Barre evening enterprise. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-1898, 1898-04-21
SMOCK MARRIAGES.
Instances In Maine of Custom That Pre-
vailed In England q Century Ago.

o
8 A Bangor lawyer attending court in
8 the ancient town of Wiscasset, Me-,
went rum m6ging recently in the colonial
!, court records If the place and in the
> course of his reading ran across the
official registration of a "smock mar
rage" Not knowing what sort OF mar
riage that was he looked further and
, rot considerable light upon a custom
that prevailed in England a century or
two ago and also to some extent in the
American colonies.
Smock marriages were weddings
where the bride appeared dressed in
white sheet or chemise. The reason Of
such a garb was the belief that If
man married woman who was in debt
be could be held liable for her indebted
ness if be received her with any Of her
property, and also that if woman mar
ried man who was in debt his credit
ors could not take her property to salts
! fy their claims If he received nothing
from her. In England, says an antigua
rian, there was at least one case where
the bride was clothed puris naturalibus
while the ceremony was being per-
formed in the great church at Birming-
ham. The minister at first refused to
perform the ceremony, but finding moth
ing in the rubric that would excuse him
he married the pair.
To carry out the law fully as the PEG.
pie understood it the ceremony should
always have been performed as it was
in the Birmingham church But modes
ty forbidding, various expedients were
used to accomplish the desired purpose
and yet avoid the undesirable features.
Sometimes the bride stood in a closet
and put her hand through hole in the
door. Sometimes she stood behind a
cloth screen and put her hand out at
one side, again she wound about her ,
white sheet furnished for the purpose
by the bridegroom, and sometimes she ,
stood in her chemise or smock Even.
tually. in Essex county at least, all i'm
was avoided by the bride.
groom's furnishing to the bride all the ,
clothes she wore, retaining title to the l.
same in himself. This he did in the
presence of witnesses, that be might 8
prove the fact in case he was sued for U
any debts she might have contracted. A Il
marriage of this kind occurred at Brad Il
ford i'll 1888, and the following is true "
copy of the record of the same: al
BRADFORD, Dec. ye q, l1Sa. -
IhiS may certife whomsocvcr it may con. II
erne that James Bailey of Bradford who was
married to the widow May Bacon Nov =! last nj
asst by me ye subscriber then declared that he 49,
ook the sad person without anything Of ,s- III
ate ana that Lydia the wife of Eliuzer burbank
Mary the wife of Thomas Sticknoy g. Mar.
aret the wife Of Caleb Burbank all Of Brad. a.,
ord were witnesses that the clothes She then go
ad OH were CT his providing G. bestowing upon Il
er st.
WILLIAM BALcn Minister of ye Gospel
1t is noted ky the same writer that in NJ
II cases OF smock marriages that have no
ome to his knowledge the brides have sb
cen widows. 70,
1t is thought that during the reign of "y
gorge Ill there were many smocll mar ca1
ages IN Maine, then part of the prov he,
ce OF Massachusetts Bay, chiefly in ma
lncoln and York counties or in the ter tb(
tory which is now so known. There is ba,
thing to show that the practice out. &c
'ed the Revolution. In Maine IN to yin
52 husband. was liable for debts Of
S wife contracted before marriage.
d no such 3ubterfuge as the slnock
arrlage could relieve him. New Yor, Die