Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-07-22
Something HistOrical-Slave
NIarriage s i'm Massachusetts.

SoNCly VI dh OiN iII'h ttoCi pt
was announced in a number OF
Dawson s Historical Magazine
in an article contributed by Mr..
George FL. Moore, librarian OF
the New York Historical So
ciety, on Slave Marriages in
Massachusetts. Mr.. Moore
begins by referring to a con
troversy which occurred con-
corning that subject in Mas
sachusetts in l748, in which
the Rev. Noah Hobart, "a Puri-
tan preacher, censured the
marriage service of the Episco
pal Church on account of it's
want of fexibility, especially
in the use of the office of mat
rimony for marriages contract
ed between slaves. The ser
vice referred to recognizes the
marriage relation as of lifelong
obligation; and a part of the
form used by the husband is,
with all my worldly goods |
thee endow. Mr.. Hobart con-
tended that these aud the mu-
| tual pledges OF love and fdeli-
ty contained in the service were
a proclamation, when given and
taken by those who were liable
to separation at any time at the
will of their owners. In reply
to Hobart, it was responded in
substance by DR.. John Beach
that as a slave was capable Of
being made free, and so of hav-
ing property in a large estate,
there was mo profaneness in
the man S solemnly promising
to make his wife copartner with
him in all his worldly goods,
if ever it should please God to
bestow an estate upon him. -
TO which it might have been
added that there are not a few
free people who are parties to
he same kind Of profanity, if
the promise to 'endow,'
&c., is to be literally construed
with reference to their possess
sions at the time of marriage.
| 1t seems, from the discovery
above referred to, that the
Puritans of Massachusetts, could
scarcely be accused Of the
want of hexibility which they
attributed to others, it appear
ing that they married their
slaves by a form which had
little more significance in its
obligations than jumping a
| broomstick. Mr.. Moore says
there has always been tradi-
ton to that effect, and .it is
now placed beyond doubt by
contemporary documentary
evidence, viz:
'One of the most accomplish
ed historical scholars in the
country, Mr.. j. Wingate
Thornton, of Boston, has re-
Gently discovered the form of
negro marriage prepared and
used by the Reverend Samual
Phillips, Of Andover, Massa-
chusetts, whose ministry there,
beginning in 1710 and ending
with his death in It'll, was a
prolonged and eminently distin-
guished service CT more than
half the eighteenth century,
His immediate successor was
the Reverend Jonathan French
Q772-1809) in family of
whose son Mr.. Thornton found
the document, at North Hamp-
ton, N. H., on the thirty-first
of December, 1868. I am in
debtod to his liberal courtesy
for the opportunity to make
use of it at the present time
1T is copied exactly from the
original how before me, and the
italics are as marked by the
author himself. whose work
could certainly have been none
other than work Of the most
approved and orthodox pat
tern, Ep uno disco omnes.
"A FORM FOR A NEaRo-MARRlAaE
you S: do now, in We Pre-
sence of God, and the Witnes.
SEES, Take r: to be your Wife !;
Promising, that so far as
shall be consistent with We.
Relation web You now Sustain,
as a Servant, you will Perform
We Part Of an Husband towards
her. And in particular, you
promise, that you will Love
her: And that, as you shall
have We Oopportty & Ability,
Won will take u DrODer Care