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Archiver > Dutch-Colonies > 2002-12 > 1039021712


From: "Howard Swain" <>
Subject: [D-Col] Re: NA/NY RDC marriage records and practices
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 09:08:32 -0800
References: <a1.3177edcc.2b1bb826@aol.com>


Hi Ted and all,

From: <>
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2002 11:08 AM

> Cynthia et al.,
>
> This might be a good time to recap what the marriage records of the NA/NY RDC
> actually mean over time. I, for one, have lost track of whatever notes I may
> have had on the subject. I do recall that the dates indicated, in some
> periods, the date the marriage intentions were registered, as Cynthia points
> out above, and at other times the actual date of the marriage. In some
> periods, it could be taken that a marriage registered in the NA/NY church was
> actually performed there, whereas at other times the marriage may have taken
> place elsewhere and merely recorded in the books of the NA/NY church. These
> differences are not always self-evident, I believe.
>
> Does somebody out there have a handle on this? It would be a nice,
> non-random act of genealogical kindness if you could post what you know.


This refers to _Records of the Reformed Dutch Chruch in New Amsterdam
and New York..._, edited by Samuel S. Purple, 1890.

I know we've discussed this before; but I've forgotten all the evidence we
accumulated as to why we think the single dates on the left in the earliest
records are the date of the first banns. Bruce asked about this last year and
here is one reply I made. Both contain some of the reasons.
http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/textindices/D/Dutch-Colonies+2001+424110508861+F
Those interested might want to search for other messages in that time frame.

Later, beginning in the fall of 1673 the date of the first banns is on the left
and the marriage date is on the right. Still later, the marriages with banns
are intermixed with marriages with licenses. I've only recently noticed that
these two types are interleaved on a batch basis. That is, there will be a
batch with banns and then a batch with licenses. So, the individual marriages
are not strictly in order of date.

As to marriages being perfomed in different places, etc. -- sometimes in
the above book, it says that the marriage was performed elsewhere.
(They were supposed to post the banns in the places where they each
lived.) There is at least one special situation where the documentation
is not immediately obvious as to what happened where. That is the
case of the marriages perfomed by Selyns at Stuyvesant's Bowery
when Selyns was minister at Brooklyn (his first tour in NN). Some
people from Harlem came down and worshipped at the Bowery
(closer than going all the way to NA) as they did not have a minister
at Harlem. Some marriages of these people had the banns recorded
in the NA book, the marriage performed at the Bowery and the
marriage itself recorded in the Brooklyn marriage records by
Selyns after he got back home. I wrote about this in:
http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/textindices/D/Dutch-Colonies+2000+35458147585+F

One example is the marriage of Jan Montagne [Jr] with banns recorded in NA
on 11 May 1663 and marriage recorded in the Brooklyn records on
10 June 1663. This was probably performed at the Bowery.


As to the time from the first banns to the marriage --
I don't have a citation, but I'm pretty sure the banns had to be announced
3 times. Also, it is my impression that young couples on their first marriage
(and where we have both dates) many times married that same Sunday as
the 3rd banns. So, for example the first banns might be the 7th, the second
the 14th, the third on the 21st and the marriage also on the 21st.

I don't remember the time involved, but I've seen regulations requiring them to
marry within a certain time. However, it is my impression that older people
on their second or third marriage sometimes took a little longer between
first banns and marriage. Eg. Magdalena Hans, widow of Hendrick Janszen
Spier and of Herman Edwards, was betrothed to Jan Arisz vander Bilt, widower
of Dieber Cornelis, on Nov 7 or 13, 1681 in Bergen; they got a certificate to
Brooklyn on Dec 10 and were married there on Dec 11.

Regards,
Howard






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