USA > New Jersey > Marriage records, 1665-1800, Vol XXII (from various church records) > Part 11
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SOME PECULIAR MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
SOME PECULIAR MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
The popular application of certain well known principles of law often leads to quaint and curious customs, and marriage is no exception to such interpretation of the law. By the com- mon law " the marriage is an absolute gift of all chattels per- sonals (of the wife) in possession of her own right, whether the husband survive the wife or not."1 Conversely, "a hus- band was to be charged for all debts of his wife, dum solo."? These laws led to a peculiar custom in England, which was transplanted to America, and was practiced in New Jersey, as appears by the following entry in our public records :
" Thomas Holmes of Woodbridge brickmaker and Lucra- cia the widow of John Pierce of New York [marriage li- cense issued July 14, 1679] were married at Mr. Moor's house in Woodbridge Thursday 17 July 1679 by James Bollen.
" The said Holmes disclaymed any of ye Widow's Estate, but took her naked only her shift."3
The observant Professor Kalm thus entertainingly explains the custom and its practice in New Jersey in the middle of the eighteenth century :
" There is a peculiar diverting custom here, in regard to marrying. When a man dies, and leaves his widow in great poverty, or so that she cannot pay all the debts with what little she has left, and that, notwithstanding all that, there is a per- son who will marry her, she must be married in no other habit than her shift. By that means, she leaves to the creditors of her deceased husband her eloaths, and every thing which they find in the house. But she is not obliged to pay them any thing more, because she has left them all she was worth, even her cloaths, keeping only a shift to cover her, which the laws of the country cannot refuse her. As soon as she is married, and no longer belongs to the deceased husband, she puts on the cloaths which the second has given her. The Swedish clergy- men here have often been obliged to marry a woman in a dress which is so little expensive, and so light. This appears from
1 ('o. Litt. 351.
2 1 Rol. 321, 1. 25; 3 Mod. 186.
5 E. J. Deeds, Liber No. 3, f. 158.
xcvii
SOME PECULIAR MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
the registers kept in the churches,' and from the accounts given by the clergymen themselves I have likewise often seen accounts of such marriages in the English gazettes, which are printed in these colonies ; and I particularly remember the fol- lowing relation : A woman went, with no other dress than her shift, out of the house of her deceased husband to that of her bridegroom, who met her half-way with fine new cloaths, and said, before all who were present, that he lent them his bride, and put them on her with his own hands. It seems, he said, that he lent the cloaths, lest, if he had said he gave them, the creditors of the first husband should come, and take them from her ; pretending that she was looked upon as the relict of her first husband, before she was married to the second.""
When a Jerseywoman took up her residence in a neighbor- ing Province she seems to have taken this peculiar custom with her, if we are to believe a veracious newspaper of the day :
" Annapolis in Maryland June 4. About a Fortnight ago there happened in Frederick County in this Province, as com- ical a Wedding, as we remember to have heard of: A Couple, with their Guests, (having obtain'd a License) came to the House of a reverend Clergyman, late in the Evening, after he had been in Bed some time with his Wife, and desired to be married ; he willing to oblige them, got up and dress'd himself in order to perform the Ceremony; but the Bride- groom having imbib'd a Notion, that if he married a Woman with any thing, he should be obliged to pay all her Debts, and not otherwise, and as she came from the Province of New Jer- sey, he was doubtful about her Circumstances ; the obliging Bride, to remove all incumibrances, stripped to her Buff. and two Women held a Sheet between her and the Clergyman while he performed his Office ; but she having forgot her Cap at undressing, in the midst of the Ceremony it came into her Mind, and she pulled that off too, and flung it on the Bed, and was married to her Spouse (if not in a Wedding Suit) in her Birth Day Suit: After the Ceremony was over, the Bride-
) No entry of the kind appears in any of the records of the Dutch churches of New Jersey or New York, which the writer has examined.
2 Kalm, as cited. II., 29-30.
1
xcviii
A WORD AS TO " BUNDLING."
groom put on her one of his own Shirts to cover her-This Ac- count the Reader may perhaps look on as improbable and un- true, but he may be assured, it is a certain and naked Truth."1
In this connection a word may be expected regarding that singular custom known as " Bundling," where young people carried on their courting under circumstances calculated to hasten the wedding. The usage is an ancient one in the rural districts of England, was introduced into New Eng- land by the early settlers, was very generally practiced by the original Dutch inhabitants of New Jersey and their descend- ants so late as 1830, and was much in vogue among the New England settlers in West Jersey down to the Revolution, if not later. The writer has been assured by persons of the highest respectability that they "bundled" when courting, and that the practice was never, to their knowledge, attended with ill consequences.2
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1719.
The origin of this Act does not appear. No petition for it is mentioned in the journals of either branch of the Legisla- ture. It may have been politics of a certain questionable sort, as the law was to the pecuniary interest of the numerous jus- tices of the peace throughout the Province. Perhaps it was designed to correct the growing abuses of the existing system. It shows much care and artificial skill in its drafting-so much so that it remained unchanged on the statute books for three- quarters of a century. The bill is first mentioned in the pro-
1 Pennsylvania Journal. June 15. 1752. No. 500, quoted in N. J. Archives, Vol. XIX., pp. 164-165. It will be remembered that when Benjamin Franklin was con- templating marriage with his future wife, one of the difficulties in the way was the fact that her former husband "had left many debts, which his successor might be called upon to pay." See Sparks's Franklin, I., 96.
2 Bundling: its Origin, Progress and Decline in America, by Henry Reed Stiles, M. D., Albany. 1871. For some account of the practice in New Jersey, see History of the City of Paterson and the County of Passaic, by William Nelson. Paterson, N. J., 1901, 396-7; The Plain-Dealer, 1775-1776, the First Newspaper in New Jer- sey, now first printed from a unique manuscript copy, with an introduction and notes by William Nelson. privately printed. 1894, 12-17; Records of the First Pres- byterian Society of Paterson. compiled and edited, with notes. by William Nel- son, Paterson, N. J .. 1893. sub " Discipline. " 1821-30.
xcix
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1719.
ceedings of the House of Representatives, February 9, 1718 -- 19, when " Coll. Bass1 presented to the house a Bill Entitled An Act to prevent Clandestine Marriages," which was dis- cussed again and again, repeatedly amended by both houses of the Legislature, and finally received the approval of Gov. Robert Hunter on March 27th, 1719.2
"AN ACT TO PREVENT CLANDESTINE MARRIAGES.
" Sect. I. WHEREAS of late Years several Young Per- sons have been. by the Wicked Practices of evil disposed Persons, and their Confederates, inticed, inveigled and de- luded, led away and Clandestinely Married, which has often been to the Ruin of the Parties so Married, as well as the great Grief of their Parents and Relations. In order therefore to prevent the like as much as may be, for the future; Be it Enacted by the Governor, Council and General Assembly of this Province, and it is hereby Enacted by the Author- ity of the same, That from and after the Publication of this Act, no License shall be given to Marry any Person under the Age of One and Twenty Years, until such Person have had the Consent of his or her Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians, or Person or Persons under whose Care and Gov- ernment he or she shall be, signified by a Certificate in Writ- ing, under the hand of the Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians, of him and her intended to be Married ; or in case any the said Persons intending to be Married have no Parent or Guardian, then by a Certificate in Writing under the hand of the Person or Persons under whose Care and Government the said Person intending to be Married, at that time, shall be ; which Certificate shall be filed in the Secretary's Office of this Province, and Registered in a Book to be kept for that Purpose ; for doing of which it shall be lawful for the Secre- tary of this Province, or his lawful Deputy, to receive the Sum of Three Shillings as a Fee or Reward.
1 Col. Jeremiah Basse was Governor of East Jersey and also of West Jersey. 1697-1699: Secretary of the Council of New Jersey. 1700-1715; and a member of the House of Representatives, 1716-1721. He was appointed Attorney-General, March 28, 1719, serving more than four years. It is not unlikely that he drafted this aet. No precedent for it has been found; New York and Pennsylvania had no such leg- islation.
2 N. J. Archives. XIII., 81. 56, 91. 97, 103. 111.
c
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1719.
"2. Any Person or Officer that now is, or hereafter shall be appointed by the Governor or Commander in Chief, for the Time being, to give out License of Marriage within this Province, who shall give or issue the same to any Person or Persons contrary to the Directions, true Intent and Meaning of this Act, or any Part thereof, shall forfeit the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds lawful Money of His Majesties Plantations in America, to be Recovered by Action of Debt, with cost of Suit, by the Parent, Guardian of (or Person under whose Care) any Person Married by Virtue of such License, shall be, in the Supream Court within this Province, in which there shall be no Essoyn, Protection or Wager of Law, or any more than one Imparlance. And any Minister or pretended Min- ister of the Gospel, Justice of the Peace or other Person, hav- ing or pretending to have Authority to joyn Persons together in the holy Bands of Matrimony, who shall joyn any Persons together in Marriage not having a License mentioning such Certificate had, as by this Act is directed and intended, or without having been published, as in and by this Act is ap- pointed and intended, or contrary to the true Intent and Mean- ing of this Act, or any part thereof, every such Minister or pre- tended Minister of the Gospel, Justice of the Peace or other Person, having or pretending to have Authority to joyn Per- sons together in the holy Bands of Matrimony, shall for every such Offence forfeit the Sum of Two Hundred Pounds, lawful Money of His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America,1 the one half thereof to his Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, the other half thereof to the Parents or Guardian of such Per- sons who shall prosecute the same to Effect, to be recovered by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint or Information in any of His Majesties Courts of Record within this Province.
1 At a meeting of the Governor's Privy Council. Feb. 21, 1722: " A Complaint being exhibited agt Thomas Walker Esqr One of the Justices of the Peace in the County of Middlesex for Marrying Persons without Licence or Publication ac- cording to Law, His Excellency was pleased to order the Depy Secretary to write to the said Thomas Walker, and give him an Opportunity to answer it."-N. J. Archives, X., 352; XVIII., 275. The offender probably made his peace with the Governor, as no further record has been found in relation to the matter. Had he not done so, the Governor would probably have issued a supersedeas, removing him from office.
ci
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1719.
"3. And for the more effectual preventing Frands in the Ob- taining Licenses for Marriage, Be it enacted by the Author- ity aforesaid, That every Person under the Age of Twenty- one Years, as aforesaid, praying a License to be married, and producing a Certificate as by this Act is directed, shall, before he or she obtains such License, take an Oath upon the Four Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, or if really of tender Con- science, shall make a solemn Affirmation and Declaration in such Form and Manner, as in and by the Act or Acts of the General Assembly of this Province is or shall be prescribed and directed, That the Certificate by him or her produced is True and Genuine, and Truly and Bona Fide signed by the Person or Persons said to sign the same ; which Oath, Affir- mation or Declaration, the Person or Officer Empowered to give out Licenses, as aforesaid, is hereby Impowered, Directed and Required to administer. ' And the Person or Persons, so praying a License as aforesaid, shall also, before the obtain- ing such License, enter into Bond to His Excellency Brigadier Robert Hunter, Esquire, now Governor of this Province or to the Governour or Commander in Chief of this Province for the Time being, with two sufficient Sureties, dwelling and hav- ing real Estates within this Province in the Penal Sum of Five Hundred Pounds, lawful Money of His Majesties Colonies and Plantations in America, on the Conditions following, viz.
"4. The Condition of this Obligation is such. That whereas there is a mutual Contract of Marriage between A. B. of on the one l'arty, and C. D. of
on the other Party, and Certificates having been produced and sworn to, or having taken a solemn Affirma- tion, according to one Act of General Assembly of this Province, made in the fifth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George, by the Grace of God King of Great-Britain, France and Ireland, and the Territories and Dominions thereunto belonging, entituled, An Act to pre- vent Clandestine Marriages. Now if it shall hereafter ap- pear that the said Certificates, or either of them, have been fraudulent, or that either of the aforesaid A. B. of
cii
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1719.
or the aforesaid C. D. of
had not the
Consent of their Parents, Guardians, or Persons under whose Care they were, signing the said Certificates, or that the said A. B. and C. D., or either of them, had some lawful Let or Impediment of Pre- Contract, Affinity or Consanguinity, to hinder their being joyned in the Holy Bands of Matrimony, and afterwards of living together as Man and Wife, then this Obligation to stand and remain in full Force and Virtue, otherwise to be void and of none Effect.
Which Bond shall be and remain in the Secretaries Office of this Province, to be produced as Occasion shall require.
"5. In case it shall so happen that any Person under the Age of Twenty one Years aforesaid, shall be deluded and Married, contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act, that then, and in such Case, it shall and may be lawful for the Parent or Guardian of such Person, under the Age of Twenty one Years, so Married by Virtue of such License, as aforesaid, or the Person under whose Care and Govern- ment such Person so Married as aforesaid, shall have been, to put the Bond, before in this Act mentioned, in Suit, in the Superior Court of this Province, and recover to his, her or their Use the Sum therein mentioned, the said Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians or other Person or Persons, by this Act impowered to put the said Bond in Suit, first giving sufficient Security with two sufficient Sureties, dwelling in this Province, in the Sum of Twenty Pounds to pay the Costs of Suit in case they become Non-Suit, Discontinue, or Verdict be given against them, or Judgment be given against them, on Demurrer, any thing in this or in any other Act to the contrary hereof in anywise notwithstanding.
"6. And for the better and more effectually Preventing Pri- vate and Clandestine Marriages to be made contrary to, and to defeat and elude the true Intent and Meaning of this Act, or any Part thereof by fraudulent and deceitful Practices in the Publications of the Intentions of Marriage between any Per- sons, hereafter to be Married within this Province, Be It En- acted by the Governor, Council, and General Assembly,
ciii
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1719.
and it is hereby Enacted by the Authority of the same, That every Person and Persons under the Age before-men- tioned, not taking a License, but intending to publish their Intentions of Marriage, in order to their being lawfully joyned together in the holy Bands of Matrimony shall, before any such Publication be made, repair to the Clerk of the Peace, or County Clerk of such County within this Province in which the Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians, Person or Persons under whose Care or Government each Person, so intending to be Married, does usually dwell and reside, and shall produce to such Clerk of the Peace such Certificate, as is herein before directed, and make oath or Affirmation. to be ad- ministered by the said Clerk, and enter into Bond accordingly, with Sureties, in the Sum and Manner directed, which Bond shall be carefully kept in the Clerks Office of the said County, and the Certificate enregistered in a Book to be kept for that purpose, upon which the said Clerk, within Fourteen Days thereafter, shall affix a Writing in a fair legible Hand, in the English Tongue, at three the most publick Places in the said County, setting forth the Persons Names, Places of Abode, and Intentions of Marriage, to be between them; for all which Certificate, Bond and Publication, the said Clerk shall receive as a Fee or Reward, from the Person desiring such Publication, the Sum of Twelve Shillings, Money afore- said ; And if the said Writing so affixed stand and remain Publick, for and during the Space of One and Twenty Days, from the Time of setting up the same, and no Objections made to it, and signified by Writing to the Clerk aforesaid, by the Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians, of either of the said Persons mentioned in the said Publication, or Person or Persons under whose Care and Government the said Persons, or either of them, so intending to be Married, shall be, then upon Certificate thereof made by the said Clerk, it shall and may be Lawful for any Person, having Authority so to do, to joyn the said Persons together in the holy Bands of Matri- mony, and not otherwise. And in Case it shall so happen that the Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians of any such Person under Age and published as aforesaid, or that the Per-
1
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THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1719.
son or Persons under whose Care, Tuition or Government any such Person under Age shall be, at any Time, during the Space of One and Twenty Days, after the Time of such Pub- lication set up, as before is Directed, signify his, her or their Dislike or Disapprobation of such Marriage so intended to be consummated, by Writing under his, her or their Hands, to the Clerk of the Peace aforesaid, that then, and in such Case the said Clerk shall not give them the Certificate before-men- tioned, of their being lawfully published, nor shall any Per- son presume, without such Certificate, to joyn the said Persons together in the holy Bands of Matrimony, unless the said Per- sons, so Intending to be Married and published as beforesaid, produce a License legally obtained, as by this Act is directed ; and every Clerk of the Peace offending contrary to the Direc- tions, true Intent and Meaning of this Act, or any Part there- of, shall, for every such Offence, forfeit the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds, lawful Money aforesaid, any thing in this or any other Act to the contrary hereof in anywise notwith- standing.
"7. If any Persons published as before directed, shall be joyned together in the Bands of Matrimony without first hav- ing had the Consent of their Parents or Guardians or Persons under whose Care they at that Time shall be, it shall and may be lawful for the Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians or Person or Persons under whose Care such Minor shall at that Time be, to put the said Bond in Suit in the Supream Court of this Province, or in any the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas in any County within the same, where the Cause of Ac- tion shall arise, and recover to the use of such Parent, Guard- ian or other Person before-mentioned, empowered, by this Act, to sue for the same, the Penalties in such Bond contained, such Parent, Guardian or other Person having first given Se- curity for the Paying the Costs of Suit, as in and by this Act is before directed and appointed.
"S. Neither this Act, nor any Part thereof, shall be con- strued to be meant and intended to prohibit the Marrying with- in any Degrees of Affinity or Consanguinity, but such only as by the Laws and Statutes now in Force, or hereafter to be in
ev
PRACTICE REGARDING MARRIAGE LICENSES.
Force, within his Majesties Kingdom of Great Britain, are or shall be prohibited.
"9. It shall and may be Lawful for all or any Religious So- cieties in this Province, to joyn together in the holy Bands of Matrimony, such Persons as are of the said Society, according to the Rules and Customs of the Society they appertain to,1 provided they have the Consent of Parents, Guardians, or of such Person under whose Care and Tuition they are, signified in Writing, under the Hand or Hands of such Parent or Parents, Guardian or Guardians, or such Person or Persons under whose Care and Tuition the said Persons so to be Mar- ried are, any thing in this Act to the contrary, in anywise not- withstanding."" :
THE PRACTICE REGARDING MARRIAGE LICENSES.
Although the Act of 1719 in terms relates only to the mar- riage of minors, it is evident from the records that the cus- tom of " marrying by license," as it was called, became more general from this time. This fact may have been due to the impression that licenses were required in all cases where there had been no publication of the banns-which, indeed, public sentiment required among church-going people-but largely, no doubt, because of the rapidly increasing population of an unsettled character, and the growing reluctance of amorous swains and maidens to have their intentions proclaimed from the pulpit, or published at the church door.
The practice seems to have been this : the blank bonds and blank marriage licenses (the latter signed by the Governor) were distributed to certain public officers-usually the county clerks. Upon the execution and delivery to them of a mar- riage bond they would fill out and issue the license to the anx- ious bridegroom, who would take it and his prospective bride before a minister or a justice of the peace, who was thereby authorized to perform the marriage ceremony without proof
1 This preserved Friends' customs. And see the Acts of East Jersey and of West Jersey, in 1653, p. Ixxxiv, infra.
2 The Aet as above given has been transcribed carefully from the compilation of New Jersey statutes known as Kinsey's Laws. Philadelphia. 1732. pp. 96-101. It is also found on pp. 53-57 of Allinson's Laws, 1726.
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PRACTICE REGARDING MARRIAGE LICENSES.
of the publishing of banns, or the consent of parents or guardians. The license was retained by the person celebrat- ing the marriage, and ultimately went the way of waste paper, as very few have been preserved. The bonds were filed with the Secretary of the Province, and seem to have been kept with much care. Ultimately, they were brought together from Perth Amboy and Burlington, the depositaries of the rec- ords of East Jersey and of West Jersey, respectively, and were filed in the office of the Secretary of State, at Trenton, about 1790.
Prof. Kalm, writing at Raccoon, New Jersey, under date of December IS, 1748, thus describes the usage as to marriage licenses :
" All persons who intend to be married, must either have their banns published three times from the pulpit, or get a li- cence from the governor. The banns of the poorer sort of people only are published, and all those who are a little above them get a licence from the governor. In that licence he de- clares that he has examined the affair, and found no obstacles to hinder the marriage, and therefore he allows it. The licence is signed by the governor; but, before he delivers it, the bride- groom must come to him in company with two creditable and well known men, who answer for him that there really is no lawful obstacle to his marriage. These men must subscribe a certificate, in which they make themselves answerable for, and engage to bear all damages of, any complaints made by the re- lations of the persons who intend to be married, by their guardians, their masters, or by those to whom they may have been promised before. For all these circumstances the gov- ernor cannot possibly know. They further certify that nothing hinders the intended marriage, and that nothing is to be feared on that account. For a licence they pay five and twenty shil- lings in Pennsylvania money, at Philadelphia.1 The governor keeps twenty shillings, or one pound, and the remaining five shillings belong to his secretary. The licence is directed only to protestant clergymen. The quakers have a peculiar licence to their marriages. But as it would be very troublesome, es-
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