Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-04-05
From the Raleigh Sentinel. !
Freedmen's Bureau.

| We are indebted to the Assistant Commissions
| OF the Freedmens Bureau, at this place for III.
following official copy of an order just ISSUED Oh
the subject of marriage. 1t will be perceived that
1t is framed in conformity with the recent act OF
our State Legislature Concerning egroesandpar
sons of color or of mixed blood -:
BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED
LANDS
Headquarters Asst. COmne'r, State # " "
Raleigh, n. c., March 81 1866
CIRCULAR,
No. g.
In accordance with instructions from Major
General 0. O. Howard, Commissioner, the follow.
ing extracts from chapter sixty-eight, Revised
Code of North Carolina, and from an act ratified
on the tenth day of March, eighteen hundred and
sixty-six, entitled 'An Act concerning Negroes
and Persons of Color, of Mixed blood" are
published for the instruction of freedmen on The
subject of marriage
Ii. The only persons authorized to solcmnze
the rites of matrimony are Ordained Minister'S
the Gospel of every denomination and justices #
the Peace
ILL License to marry may be procured by ap
plying to 'sthe Clerk of the County Court OF tie
County In which the woman resides"
Nv. Livery Justice of the Peace, or Minister
the Gospel, who may solemnize the rites of matr.
mony, shall, within three months thereafter tran.
NIT to the Clerk of the County Court of the Coup.
ty wherein such marriage may have been eelebn.
ted, certificate, In writing of the same, indorse
perry Endorsed, the Clerk shall record in a boo,
kept for the purpose, within one month after il,
reception; and such record shall be deemed pri11
facie evidence of the marriage
V. Marriage is prohibited to ''females undcrtlr
age OF fifteen years, and males under the age Of
sixteen ;; also between persons nearer of kin
than first cousins" and &C between white persons
and persons of color"
vi. In all cases where men and women, both Of
one OF whom were lately slaves, and are now emal
clpated, now cohabit together in the relation o.
man and wife, the parties shall be deemed to have
been lawfully married as man and wife, at the tim
OF the commencement of such Capitalization, ar
though they may not have been married in due
form of the law. And all persons whose cohabit.
tlon is hereby ratified into O. state of marriage
shall go before the clerk of the court of pleas and
quarter sessions of the county in which they IT,
side, at his Office before some Justice Of the
peace, and acknowledge tho fact of such cohablt1
ton, and the time Of its commencement; and u
clerk shall enter the same in q book kept for tia.
purpose; and If the acknowledgment be made Dr.
tore justice of the peace, such Justice shall reIo
the same IN writing to the clerk of the court "
pleas and quarter sessions and the clerk shall FL
ter the same as though the acknowledgment ha0
been made before him, and such entry shall D.
deemed p1'inad fncie evidence of the allegatlol,
therein contained. For making such entry an
giving certificate of the same, the clerk shall "
entitled to fee of twenty-five cents to be paid
the party for whom the services are rendered j.
any such persons shall fail to go before the Glen
OF the county court, or some justice of the peac.
OF the county in which they reside, and have theI
marriage recorded before the first day of SepteI
Der, 1866, they shall be deemed guilty of misc
meanor and punished at the discretion Of w
court, and their failure for each month theleai'I
shall constitute separate and distinct ofense' 81,
VII. All officers and agents of this Bureau WI
take means to publish the foregoing rules to&
freedmen within their districts, so that none nar
be left in Ignorance on this impOrtant subject
By dihgent instruction and urgent appeals to u,
conscience Of the colored people, it is hoped tna
the evils and vices now prevalent among then
may be corrected [Official.
E. WHTTTLESEl,
Col and. Asst Commissioner
FRED. FL. BEECHER,
I'd It., 3rd U, S. Inf. & A. A. A. u