USA > New Jersey > Marriage records, 1665-1800, Vol XXII (from various church records) > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89
1 This in Pennsylvania, but the account applies to New Jersey.
cvii
PRACTICE REGARDING MARRIAGE LICENSES.
pecially for those who live far from the governor's residence to come up to town for every licence, and to bring the men with them who are to answer for them, the clergymen in the coun- try commonly take a sufficient number of licences and certifi- cates, which are ready printed, with blanks left for the names ; they give them occasionally, and get the common money, one pound, five shillings, for each of them, besides something for their trouble. The money that they have collected, they de- liver to the governor as soon as they come to town, together with the certificates, which are signed by two men, as above mentioned ; they then take again as many licences as they think sufficient ; from hence we may conceive that the governors in the English North American colonies, besides their salaries, have very considerable revenues.
" There is a great mixture of people of all sorts in these colonies, partly of such as are lately come over from Europe, and partly of such as have not yet any settled place of abode. Hence it frequently happens that when a clergyman has mar- ried such a couple, the bridegroom says he has no money at present, but would pay the fee at the first opportunity : how- ever he goes off with his wife, and the clergyman never gets his due. This proceeding has given occasion to a custom which is now common in Maryland. When the clergyman marries a very poor couple, he breaks off in the middle of the Liturgy, and cries out, Where is my fee? The man must then give the money, and the clergyman proceeds ; but if the bride groom has no money, the clergyman defers the marriage till another time, when the man is better provided. People of fortune, of whom the clergyman is sure to get his due, need not fear this disagreeable question, when they are married.
" However, though the parson has got licences to marry a couple, yet if he be not careful, he may get into very disagree- able circumstances ; for in many parts of the country there is a law made, which, notwithstanding the governor's licence, greatly limits a clergyman in some cases. He is not allowed to marry a couple who are not yet of age, unless he be certain of the consent of their parents. He cannot marry such stran- gers as have bound themselves to serve a certain number of
cviii
A SWEDISH CRITICISM.
years, in order to pay off their passage from Europe, without the consent of their masters ; if he acts without their consent, or in opposition to it, he must pay a penalty of fifty pounds, Pensylvania currency, though he has the license, and the cer- tificate of the two men who are to answer for any objection. But parents or masters give themselves no concern about these men, but take hold of the clergyman, who is at liberty to prose- cute those who gave him the certificate, and to get his damages repaid. With the consent of the parents and masters, he may marry people without danger to himself. No clergyman is al- lowed to marry a negro with one of European extraction, or he must pay a penalty of one hundred pounds, according to the laws of Pensylvania."1
Acrelius gives a somewhat similar account, but in a bitter spirit, regretting the Swedes' departure from their ancient cus- toms :
"Marriage is quick, and not according to rule. To be published three Sundays and then married is only for poor peo- ple. The law of the land permits a much shorter way, which is more agreeable and more used, except that it costs money. The Governor has a right to license marriage without the pub- lication of the banns. In every county office marriage licenses are issued in this wise ; that the bridegroom gives his bond to pay to the Governor from five to ten thousand dollars copper, according to the ability of the applicants, if it should be found that the marriage of the persons named therein is not lawful. Thereupon a Manifest is issued, which is called a License, in the name of the Governor, to some Protestant Minister to per- form the marriage ceremony. And as this gives the Governor a considerable income, so he quite willingly allows the Minis- ters themselves to keep such a license in blank with his name subscribed, for which payment is made when the bonds are handed in. The abuses of this are indescribable. Yet such a marriage license is usual throughout the whole English govern- ment, although now much more restricted than formerly. Our Swedish people, as naturalized Englishmen, dance to the same tune, and our Swedish men who settle here find an equal
1 Kalm. as cited, IL .. 25-29.
cix
A SWEDISH CRITICISM.
pleasure, or are compelled thereto to gratify their brides, who would rather break off their engagements than be proclaimed in church. But when such a license comes to the bridal pair, in season or out of season, even if it be in the middle of the night or early in the morning, if they so please with more or less company, then the marriage immediately takes place. The bride is in her usual dress, so that in that respect she cannot be distinguished from any of the company. Very few cele- brate their marriage with a meal and entertainment. Plays and dancing are but little in use, and are usually counted as among loose and disreputable sports. Seldom do the Minis- ters prevail upon any bridal parties to go to church ; but if this is done, the marriage takes place after service. The old speak of the joy with which their bridal parties formerly came to church and sat during the whole service before the altar; but when it comes to the time for their own children to do so, then they either run off to some English Minister with a license, or the parents are afraid of this, or get some other reason for it, and so it is impossible any more to root out such an inveterate abuse."!
It may be added here, that about ISSo the then Secretary of State-Henry C. Kelsey-caused the marriage bonds in his office to be arranged and bound in thirty-two stout folio vol- umes, and an index of the same to be prepared, in two volumes -- one of the men, and the other of the women. The index also includes the names of persons to whom licenses were is- sued prior to the Act of 1719, as shown by the entries in the records in the same office.
HOSTILITY TO THE MARRIAGE LICENSE SYSTEM.
The quotations from Kalm and Acrelius indicate the char- acter of the opposition to the system of requiring marriage licenses. It was for the rich, rather than the poor. A license cost a man a month's wages or more. When the Stamp Act was passed, in 1765, this was regarded as so unconscionable an additional burden that by common consent it was not enforced so far as marriage licenses were concerned, in New Jersey,2
1 Acrelius' New Sweden, 356.
2 N. J. Archives, XXIV., 687.
CX
HOSTILITY TO THE MARRIAGE LICENSE SYSTEM.
The clergy of the Church of England viewed the practice- coupled as it was with provisions for marriage by civil magis- trates, as an unwarrantable attack on the church and on their own prerogatives. The Rev. Richard Backhouse, writing from Chester, Penn., May 14, 1730, to the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, says :
" We live in a Government which is a stepmother to our Church, who can't rest contented only with taking away our properties and perquisites and giving them to others, But now has struck even at constitution itself by making an Act1 which not only prohibits us to publish but to marry lawfully accord- ing to the constitution of the Church of England without the license of Parents, Guardians, Tutors, Masters, &c., &c., first had and obtained in writing under hand upon the penalty of £50."?
The Episcopal clergy of Pennsylvania and the three coun- ties upon Delaware, under date of 16 April, 1730, represented to the Society that this had " a manifest tendency to extirpate the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England out of the said Province. That it is arbitrary and tyrannical and they therefore urged that this " odious and tyrannical Law " be repealed " at the King's Council Board."3
The. clergy of the Church of England in New Jersey memorialized the Bishop of London on the subject, who at their request sent this representation to the Lords of Trade, under date of November 12, :765 :
" The Bishop of London at the request of the Clergy of the Province of New Jersey begs leave to represent to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, that by an old Law the licences for Marriages are directed to any Protestant Minister or Justice of the Peace, which however necessary at the first Establishment of the Colony to facilitate Marriages, when there
1 " A Supplement to the Act Entituled An Act to prevent Clandestine Mar- riages, " passed F=b. 13. 1729 30. See Penn. Col. Records, III., 379-80. The act was much the same as the New Jersey Aet of 1719.
2 Historieal Collections, relative to the American Colonial Church, edited by William Stevens Perry. D. D. Pennsylvania. 1881. 167.
3 Thid., 173-5.
cxi
HOSTILITY TO THE MARRIAGE LICENSE SYSTEM.
were few Ministers in the Country, seems at present not only prejudicial to the Clergy, who are depriv'd of a considerable part of their Income, but gives occasion to many Inconven- iences and abuses.
" It appears by a letter from New Jersey dated Dec : 20th 1760, that the Clergy of that Province petitioned their Gov- ernor (Mr. Boone) to alter the Direction of the Licences. By his Answer He did not think himself authoriz'd by his Instruc- tions to comply with their Petition, as He thought such an Al- teration must take place by Order of the Lords of Trade upon the Bishop of London's Application.
" The Clergy of New Jersey have repeated their request to the Bishop of London, who hopes, that the Lords of Trade and Plantations will take the matter into Consideration, and if they see no particular Objections will give their Instructions to the Governor of that Province, that for the future Marriage Licences may be directed only to a Protestant Minister of the Gospel."1
For some reason, the Lords of Trade preferred to shift the responsibility upon Governor Franklin, to whom they wrote the following letter, dated Dec. 12th, 1765 :
" The inclosed Memorial stating the propriety of Licences for Marriages in New Jersey being directed to the Clergy only, has been presented to Us by the Bishop of London.
" If there is no Law in force, by which the Civil Magistrate is authorized to perform the Marriage Rites, or if long usage and custom has not established such a practice ; We see no ob- jection to what his Lordship purposes : But as it does not ap- pear to Us from any Information we cin collect here, how the case stands in respect to this matter, we desire you will by the first opportunity acquaint Us, whether the civil Magistrates in New Jersey do or do not perform those Ceremonies; and if they do; whether it is by virtue of any declared Law, or by usage only ; and if the latter, whether such practice may in your opinion be altered in the manner proposed by the Bishop of London without Inconvenience or Complaint.""
Nothing came of these memorials. Civil marriage had been too long established by law and custom in New Jersey to
1 N. J. Archives, IX., 504. 2 Ibid., 520.
cxii
BISHOP WHITE ON MARRIAGE LICENSES.
make it worth while for the politic Governor-steadfast Churchman though he was-to even suggest a change, espec- ially in a Province where the Dutch, the Presbyterians and the Quakers formed so large a proportion of the population. We do not find that he even replied to the Lords of Trade on the subject. .
BISHOP WHITE ON MARRIAGE LICENSES.
The Rt. Rev. William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania, doubtless voiced a very general sentiment regarding marriage licenses in this forcible and comprehensive letter (November or December, 17SS,) to the Governor of that State :
" When I had ye Honor, yesterday, of stating to your Ex- cellency my Objections to ye present system of Marriage Licenses, & you condescended to recommend to me ye pro- moting of a clerical Representation of ye Subject ; I expressed my Doubts as to ye Expediency of such a Measure. My Reason is, that I do not think ye Clergy, as such, materially interested in the correcting of ye Evil. We marry whom we please, un- der no other Restriction than what should prevail in every Line of Life, if not Invading of ye Rights of others. It is True, a Stranger may be imposed on, by his imagining that a license from Government is something more than a blank Paper. But to prevent this, I have made it my Business to advertise every such, of ye Church under my care, of ye State of ye Case & of his own Responsibility.
"It was as a Citizen that I introduced ye Subject to your Excellency ; And ye evils which, as such, I reprobate in ye present System are as follows :
"I. The Practice of issuing Licences is, as I apprehend, without any Foundation of Law. The only Passage in our Acts of Assembly that can be supposed applicable, & this can be so by Implication only, defines a lawful Licence to be one which contains ye Consent of the Parent or Guardian ex- pressed in ye Body of it. But such a Licence I never saw, nor do I know of any Clergyman who has.
" 2dly. It seems to me (I speak it with submission) Dis- reputable to Government, to be in ye Exercise of an Act of
cxiii
BISHOP WHITE ON MARRIAGE LICENSES.
Authority, disregarded (as far as I can hear) & that with Im- punity, by the most respectable Clergymen in this City ; who, instead of thinking themselves under any Obligation, either of Law or of Morals, to ask for ye Licence, consider it rather as a Snare, against which they are to be on their Guard.
" 3dly. The Licenses, as issued, are a most cruel Invasion of domestic Rights. For, as if it were not enough, that ye Citizen has ye Peace of his Family exposed to ye acts of ye desperate Adventurer, ye Villain robs him of his Child under a warrant with ye Seal of ye State annexed to it, & signed by ye first Magistrate.1 I hope your Excellency will not mistake me ; I am as much an Enemy to domestic Tyranny as to ye civil ; And I know that there sho'd be a certain Age when young People may dispose of themselves without the Consent of their Parents. What I contend for is, that there should also be a Period, during which ye Parent should have an uncon- troulable Authority over ye Child, in ye Article of preventing Marriage.
" As to ye Bond of fioo taken at the office, I think noth- ing of it. To my Certain Knowledge it has been taken, both before & since ye Revolution, from persons not worth 100 pence ; And besides, there are Doubts as to ye Recovery of ye Penalty. I should be sorry to be understood, in this Part of ye Subject, as reflecting either on ye worthy Gentleman who has, nominally, ye Administration of ye Licences, or on his Deputy, who is supposed to do his Business. On ye contrary, I declare that I believe ye Fault to be, not in them, but in ye System, which while it prevails, must involve ye present Consequences, let who will have ye Administration. And be- sides, I have not seen above one or two Licences during Col. Biddle's Secretaryship. nor long before.
" 4thly. It may be of Importance to mention that ye Prac- tice has been stigmatized as illegal by ye Council of Censors. I speak from Report, not having seen their Resolves on ye
1 So early as June 6. 1709. the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania rep- resented to Lieutenant Governor Gookin that the granting of marriage licenses was " of an Evil Tendency, whereof many Istances may be given, particularly that of Israel Taylor, whose Daughter had like to have been stolen by Colour of a Lycense lately granted to one James Barber, of Chester County, this Province." -Penn. Col. Records. II .. 455.
J
-
cxiv
BISHOP WHITE ON MARRIAGE LICENSES.
Subject. But my Authority is such that I cannot doubt ye Truth of it.
" And now, Sir, if your Excellency is disposed to listen to my Proposal of a Remedy, it is as follows :
"I. In regard to all Persons marrying agreeably to ye Notifications required by their respective religious Societies, ye Clergyman celebrating ye Marriage sh'd be responsible in a pecuniary, or, if you please, on repeated Transgression, in a corporal Penalty. If meer publication be made sufficient, it will amount to Nothing ; because it may be made (& is made in some congregations) in such a Manner as to be a meer Eva- sion.
" 2dly. As to Persons who may not come within ye Rules of any religious Society, some Mode of Publication sh'd be pro- vided for them. There is one indeed, but it is thought insuffi- cient.
" 3dly. The License sh'd be considered as a Dispensation from ye Notoriety of Publication ; And accordingly, Govern- ment sh'd assume ye Responsibility. The dispensing Officer should have a Reward proportioned to his Trouble & Risque. He sh'd be liable to a Penalty according to ye Damage sus- tained, at ye Discretion of ye Court, within certain Limits. He sh'd, therefore, be ye Judge of ye Amount of ye Security to be required ; And if he take insufficient bondmen, it sh'd be at his Peril. The most material Difficulty that can occur in ye above Plan is ye discretionary power of ye Court. But I know no other Substitute for ye English Mode, which is ye taking of Oaths that there is no legal Impediment.
" Your Excellency's desiring of me to state my Sentiments in writing has occasioned you ye Trouble of reading this long Letter. I am not tenacious of any Advice I have presumed to offer ; But am fixed in my knowledge of ye Fact, & I hope ye Freedom of ye Citizen will justify my declaring it, that ye pres- ent Practice makes Government contribute to ye sacrificing of ve Peace, Honor & Fortunes of Families."1
Two years later (Dec. 22, 1790) the Bishop, who was very
Penn. Archives, XII., 314; 2d Series, II., 8-11; Penn, Col. Records, XV., 614,
CXV
BISHOP WHITE ON MARRIAGE LICENSES.
much in earnest on this subject, returned to the attack in an- other letter to Gov. Mifflin :
" In Compliance with your Excellency's Intimation, I am emboldened to lay before you briefly, the Substance of what I formerly delivered to you more at large, on the present State of Law and Practice, on ye Subject of Marriage.
" The Objections which I had the Honor to state to you against ye Marriage License, were that it is a taking of Money out of ye people's pockets, without even ye Colour of Law, that it had been stigmatized on this Acct. by the Council of Censors ; and that to my certain Knowledge, it Prostitutes ye chief Magistrates Name & invades Domestic Rights, by the Sanction it gives to clandestine Marriages.
" It is true, the Abuse is considerably lessened, by ye intire neglect which is shown the License, by ye greater Number of the Clergy of all Denominations; who depend on their own Precaution against what they think the Snares of ye govern- mental License. But I sub:nit to your Excellency whether it be not a great, Evil to leave Matters on this Footing.
".It is now so well understood that no Man takes out a licence, but either thro' Ignorance or for a Cover to an illegal Transaction, that we may presume the Doing without them will more and more prevail. It must be obvious to every Man how much this subjects the Happiness of families to the sudden Determination of very young people. Under such a Dispensa- tion from all preparatory Measures, would it be surprising to hear, that a Girl of the Age at which Matrimony may be con- tracted, were induced by a Toy or by a Sugar Plumb, to put an artful Man into ye possession of a Fortune ; out of which he would only have to pay £50 for ye Irregularity of ye Manner. Impositions may happen far short of this, yet very distressing to Families and ruinous to the Peace of ye parties.
" So far as ye Clergy in particular are concerned, it sub- jects ye conscientious to great Difficulties ; It gives those of ye opposite Description unbounded License ; and it subjects to ye Determination of either (and that in situations of great Deli- cacy) a Question involving Property and Character and Hap- piness.
cxvi
DECAY OF THE LICENSE SYSTEM.
" In what Manner an evil of so great Magnitude is to be remedied, I presume not to say. But I will hint what I think ye great Outline of ye Business ; viz. : That in Favor of these who either cannot, or who, from conscientious Scruples, will not pay for a License, there should be pointed out an unequiv- ocal Mode of Publication ; and that a License being a Dispen- sation from ye Notoriety of Publication, the Officers issuing it should be accountable and should receive a Fee proportioned to ye Trust and to ye Vigilance required in it."1
WM. WHITE.
DECAY OF THE LICENSE SYSTEM.
Bishop White's statements as to the prevalent disregard of the law requiring marriage licenses are significant. They are borne out by the marriage bonds on file in the office of the Sec- retary of State at Trenton. There are about 10,000 such bonds. Of 488, taken at random, 83 were given in the decade 1751-60; 113 in the decade 1761-70 ; 107 in the years 1771- So, and only 38 in the next ten years, there being but two in 1790. While this examination may be inadequate for accurate generalizations it sufficiently indicates the rapid decay of the system. It seems to have fallen into disrepute directly after the Revolution. Perhaps it was regarded as a relic of royal privilege, pertaining to the Governors appointed by the crown, and so to be ignored with the passing of the royal authority. The Marriage Act of 1719 remained on the statute books, how- ever, until 1795, although a dead-letter for several years before its repeal.
By an act passed December 16, 1784, in relation to the Or- dinary, etc., it was provided that his anthority should extend, inter alia, to the granting of marriage licenses.2 The Govern- or was also the Ordinary under the new constitution, but this act was the first to define his powers in the latter capacity, as it was the first to engraft upon our system of jurisprudence a court the functions of which in the mother country had always resided in the ecclesiastical tribunals. The power to grant li-
1 Penn. Archives, XII., 31; 2d Series, II., 10-11,
2 Paterson's Laws. 59.
cxvii
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1795.
censes was taken from the Ordinary by an act passed June 13, 1S20.
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1795.
William Paterson having been engaged by the Legislature to revise the existing statutes and prepare new ones, a bill com- piled by him, entitled " An Act concerning Marriages," was laid before the Legislative Council, November 7, 1794, taken up the following Monday (November 10), and ordered a sec- ond reading, and was again considered on November 13, 15 and IS, most of the last-mentioned day being spent in discuss- ing it, after which it was ordered to be engrossed. It was passed on the 26th, and sent to the House of Assembly, whose concurrence was requested. As the Legislature was about to take its usual recess the bill went over until February IS, 1795, when
"Mr. Elmer from the committee to whom was referred the Bill entitled, An Act concerning Marriages, reported the same with sundry Amendments ; which Bill, with the Amendments, were read, and after some Time spent thereon
"Ordered That the further Consideration thereof be post- poned.
Feb. 24 .- " The House resumed the Consideration of the Bill, entitled " An Act concerning Marriages ; and, after some Time spent thereon,
" Ordered, That the said Bill be re-committed to Messrs. Elmer, Peck and Clement."
The next day Mr. Elmer, from the committee, reported the bill " with sundry amendments," which were agreed to, and the bill ordered to be read a third time. On the day fol. lowing the bill was passed, and sent up to the Council the same day, and their concurrence asked in the amendments. On the following Monday, March 2, the bill was taken up in the Council, read a second time, and ordered to be re-engrossed with the Assembly's amendments, and on Wednesday (March 4, 1795) the bill was finally passed.1
The following is the text of the Act of 1795 :
1 Journals of the Council and of the Assembly.
cxviii
THE MARRIAGE ACT OF 1795.
"I. No man or woman shall intermarry, within the de- grees hereafter named that is to say, No man shall marry his Grandmother, [etc., etc. ].1
II. Every justice of the peace of this State, and every stated and ordained minister of the gospel, shall be, and hereby is au- thorized and empowered to solemnize marriages between such persons as may lawfully enter into the matrimonial relations.2
"III. No justice of the peace, minister of the gospel, or other person having or pretending to have authority to join persons together in the holy bands of matrimony, shall marry any male under the age of twenty-one years, or female under the age of eighteen years, unless the parent or parents, guard- ian or guardians or person or persons under whose care and government such minor or minors shall be, be present, and give their consent thereto, or until the minor applying to be mar- ried, whether male or female, shall have produced a certificate in writing, under the hand of the parent or parents, guardian or guardians, or if such minor, so applying to be married, have no parent or guardian, then under the hand of the per- son or persons, under whose care and government he or she may at that time be ;3 which certificate shall be proved to be genuine by the oath or affirmation of at least one person, of full age and discretion, who was present at the signing of the same, and affixed his or her name as a witness thereto; which oath or affirmation any justice of the peace, or minister of the gospel, authorized to solemnize marriages as aforesaid, is hereby authorized to take, and shall enter upon the back of the certificate. 4
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.