WHITNEY-L Archives

From: "Larry Tracy" <>
Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Some Facets of Early Marriages to Consider
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 00:13:17 -0500

Fellow WRGers,
Nancy and I recently found several out of the ordinary marriages while
viewing the "Morning Star", a long running Freewill baptist publication,
having its beginning on May 11, 1826. Additional to this, I encountered a
'not so usual' marriage intention in the York, Maine records that was played
out differently than I would have suspected. Both cases caused some
reflection and are worthy of mention, should ever the circumstances be
encountered again at some point in our genealogical research. As we have
found, not all is as it would appear in the attempt to interpret records
with unknowns and thus,fall prey to their pitfalls. The two cases follow:
*ESTIMATING GENEALOGICAL AGE - SOMETIMES IMPRACTICAL
As genealogists, we sometimes attempt to gauge the age of individuals under
review. Whether related to a marriage, birth, death or event, more often
than not the lack of a verifiable birth record, has the researcher
estimating the age of those listed in the actual marriage Intention or
marriage itself. Frequently the researcher is correct when assigning a
probable age of 23 for a male, give or take a few years, in order to arrive
at a general date of birth. The female marriage partner may successfully be
ascribed an age of 18 through 21 years. Of course, this can only be done
with reasonable accuracy on first time marriages that are not always evident
for both intends. The genealogist can easily rationalize the age of the
male partner as being somewhat older, since he was historically the
breadwinner and required to have the means of supporting his family through
the establishment of a farm or trade. In the recent review of "The Morning
Star", the parameters of marriage age were never so clearly opposed to the
norms as they are found in the extracts quoted herewith:
May 11, 1826 "In N. Hampton, N.H. Master Wheeler Spiller, aged 15, to Miss
Sally Gross, aged 50."
November 23, 1826 "In Pepperel, Mass Jonathan J. Powers, aged 13 years, to
Miss Priscilla E. Reed, aged 13 years."
One can only imagine the reasons why these marriages occurred at such a
young age, or for that matter, such a difference in years. The examples can
singly serve to expand our view regarding the length of a woman's
childbearing years within a family when we often times discount a
questionable birth in the vital records. Though indeed not common, births
over a 28 year period have been noted in a family structure.
On many mor occasions in contrasting the example above, older men have been
found to have married girls in their teens, suggesting parental blessings
with the security the union provided. These examples admonish the
researcher/genealogist to consider the variables that may exist in judging
the age of the
parties upon marriage, or the age of parents by their firstborn in the
absence of primary vital record resources. However, we as genealogists can
be remarkably
accurate in a large percentage of the time when using the standard age
formula. It is the 'out of the norm' marriage unions and subsequent
childrens births that can prove baffling at times when attempting to
determine age.

*EARLY PUBLISHED MARRIAGE INTENTIONS
Many have been perplexed at times when finding an ancestor who had not
followed through with a marriage after publishing intentions; or still
further, publishing intentions with two different intended spouses within a
short period of time. The law required that all marriage intentions be
published but had little to say of documenting the actual marriage itself.
It is often thought that one party may have died before the union, giving
rise to a second intention of marriage to another. While this may be true,
recently I have found verification that this may not always be the case.

At york, Maine during the 1720's, marriage intentions were withdrawn by a
father of the prospective bride. The right of the father to reject the
suitor of his daughter evidently was a custom adhered to in principle,
causing the marriage not to occur, at least, not in their settled town. The
way to circumvent the denial was for the parties to cross the river into a
N.H.town to receive the marriage blessings.

Thus, when viewing two marriage intentions involving the same person but
each with a different partner, or a marriage with a different party than the
first intended, one might consider a father's intercession. The varied
reasons may include, but not limited to age, dislike, lack of work ethic or
not being a property owner. After all, a father would want the best for his
daughter. A recent widower with a number of young children required the
immediate care of a mother figure. This situation may be cause to withdraw
the bands of marriage by the daughter's father as a first choice.
Certainly, other reasons may be cited as to why a father would ask a town
official to withdraw intentions, but the fact that it did occur makes one
rethink some past research that couldn't really be explained. We are
hopeful these thoughts will add to the awareness of those who have not
experienced the questionable nature presented by some vital records
involving these two facets of marriage.

Best Wishes
Nancy Metelski
Larry Tracy Jr.

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