Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1866-04-26
BUREAU Refugees, FREEDMEN,
E AND ABANDONED LANDS.
.a HDo'Rs. ASST COMMISSIONER
OTATE. OF Y IRHlNIA, =.
RICHMOND. VA March I9, 1866.


eight of the code of Virginia for eighteen hun
dred and sixty, in regard to Registers OF ar
riage, and to legallze the marriages OF colored
persons, now cohabiting as husband and wife.
Passed February 9th, 1866,
( IL Henceforth, it shall be the duty OF every
minister or other person celebrating mar
riage, and of the clerk or keeper of records OF
any religious society, which solemnizes mar
riages, by the consent Of the parties, in open
congregations at once to make a record OF every
marriage between white pcrsons,, or between
colored persons, solemnized by or before him,
stating in such record whether the persons be
white or colored, aud within two months after
such marriage to return copy thereof, signed
by him, to the Clerk OF the County or Corpor
alton in which the same is soemnized. The
clerk issuing any marriage license, shall at the
time require certificate setting forth, as near
as may be, the date and place Of the pre- posed
marriage, the full names of both the parties
their ages and conditions before marriage
whether single or widowed), the places of their
birth and residence, the names OF their parents
and the occupation OF the husband E"u
I'll. Where coored persons, before the pas
sage of this Act, shall have undertaken and
agreed to occupy the relation to each other Of
husband and wife, and shall be cohabiting to-
gether as such at the time Of its passage,
whether the rites of marriage shall have been
celebrated between them or not, they shall be
deemed husband and wife, and be entitled to
the rights and privileges, and subject to the
duties and obligations Of that relation IN like
manner as if they had been duly married by
law, and all their children shall be deemed le-
climate, whether born before or after the pas
Sage of this Act. And when the parties have
ceased to cohabt before the passage OF this
Act, in consequence of the death OF the wo-
man, or from any other cause, all the children
Of the woman, recognized by the man to be
his, shall be deemed legitimate. y
can Act to amend and re-enact Sections one,
three, five, seven and fifteen of Chapter one
hundred and ninety six Of the Code OF Virgin
la. Passed February 18th, 1866.
II. Any person who, being married shall,
during the life of the former husband or wife,
marry another person in this State, or, II the
marriage with such other person take place out
of the State, shall thereafter cohablt with such
other person in this State, shall be confined IN
the Penitentiary not less than three nor more
than eight years.
III. If any person marry in violation of the
ninth or tenth Sections Of Chapter one hundred
and eight he shall be confined in jail not more
hundred dollars, at the discretion of the Jury.
And if any person, resident in this State, and
within the degrees Of relationship mentioned IN
those Sections, shall 60 out OF this State tor
the purpose of being married. and with the IN
tenton of returning, and be married out OF It,,
and afterwards return to and reside IN It, CO.
habiting as man and wife, they shall be as
guilty and be punished as if the marriage had
been in this State The fact OF their cOhabta-
ton here as man and wife shall be evidence OF
their marriage.
sIII. If any person knowingly perform tie
ceremony Of marriage without lawful license,
or oaicia; in celebrating the rite, of marriage
without being authorized by law to do SC, he
shall be coufned in Jail not more than one year,
and fined not exceeding five hundred dollars.
CIV. IF any persons, not married to each
other, iewdly and lasciviously associate and CO.
habit together, or whether married or not, be
guilty of open and gross lewdness aud lasciv-
.iiousness, they shall be fined not less than fifty
nor more than FIVE bundled dollars, and upon
reuetition of the offence and conviction there
of, they shall be imprisoned in the County or
CORPORATION Jail, at the discretion Ut the Court,
for not less than six, nor more than twelve
months -,
The 10Th and 10th Sections" referred to in
the End Section of the Act last above quoted
provide that IN man shall marry his moth
cr, grandmother, stepmother, sister, daugh-
ter, granddaughter, halt sister, aunt uncle S
wife, sons wife, wife S daughter, or her grand,
daughter, or step, daughter, brother daughter,
sisters daughter, or wife Of his brothers Oh
sister son, and that no woman shall marry
in the corresponding degrees"
The only persons who can by law celebrate
40 II no
Gospel who has before County Court produ-
ced proof of his ordination, &c, and CIV
bond End, persons appointed by the County
Court and 3rd, where the marriage is between
persons belonging to religious society which
has no ordained minister, it may be solemnized
bythe persons, and in the manner prescribed by
and practised in any such society. Everymarrlase
must be under license, which is to be issued
by the Clerk of the Court or Corporation IN
which the female to be married usually resides.
The consent Of the father or guardian, or II
there be none, of the mother is necessary to
the marriage of person under twenty-one
years.
All marriages between a white person and a
negro. and all marriages which are prohibited
by law on account of either of the parties hav
ing former husband or vile then living, are
absolutely void, without any decree OF divorce
or other legal process. The general rule in
other cases is that divorce to be valid must
be decreed by the Circuit Courts. i
[. The Assistant Superintendents OF the
Bureau in this State will ascertain what colored
persons were, on the 9th Of February last,
within their respective Sub-districts, cohabitlng
together as man and wife, and will make reg
istry of such persons, now married by the
operation of the above quoted law, as nearly a:
possible ic the manner above provided Tor the
registration of future marriages by the Clerk
of the County They will also ascertain, IN
the case provided where the parties have at
the said date ceased to cohabit, IN consequence
of the death of tha woman, or any other cause:
what children of the woman are recognized 10y
the man; will, with all their power and IN
fuence, endeavor to obtain complete and non
| 81 an1 when Unnamed