The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-12-15
sMocK MARRIAGES. N MAINE.
An Amusing Custom Which Was in
Vogue a Century Ago.

Vogue a Century Ago.
A Bangor lawyer attending court in
he ancient town of Wiscasset went
'ummaging recently in the colonial
court records of the place, and In the
course Of his reading ran across the
,ffcial registration of a ''smock mar
:iage." Not knowing what sort of mar
rage that was, he looked further, and
got 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 a
white sheet or chemise. The a of
such a garb was the belief that If a man
married a woman who was in debt he
could be held liable for her indebted
ness If he received her with any of her
property; and, also, that IL a woman
married a man who was in debt his
creditors could MOI take her property
to satisfy their claims If he received
nothing from her. In England, says an
antiquarian, there was at least one case
where the bride was clothed puris nat
uralibus while the ceremony was being
performed in the great church at Bir-
mingham. The minister at first refused
to perform the ceremony, but finding
nothing in the rubric that would excuse
him from exercising his functions he
married the pair.
TO carry out the law fully, as the peo-
pie understand 1t, the ceremony should
always have been performed as 1t was
In the Birmingham church. But, mod
esty forbidding, various expedients
were used to accomplish the desired
purpose and yet avoid the undesirab bic
features. Sometimes the bride stood in
a closet and put her hand through n
behind a cloth screen and put her hand
out at one side; again, she wound about
her a white sheet furnished for the pur-
pose by the bridegroom, and sometimes
she stood in her chemise, or smock.
Eventually, in Essex County at least,
all immodesty was avoided by the
bridegroom's furnishing to- the bride all
the clothes she wore, retaining title to
the same in himself. This he did In the
presence of witnesses, that he might
prove the fact in case be was sued for
any debts she might have contracted.
A marriage of this kind occurred at
Bradford in 1913, and the following is a
true copy of the record of the same
BRADFORD, Dec. We "a, 1913
This may certifie whomsoever it may
that James Bailey of Brad
ford who was married to the widow
Mary Bacon Nov. % last past by me We
subscriber then declared that he took
the said person without anything of
estate, and that Lydia the wife of Ella
ger Burbank & Mary the wife of
Thomas S~tickney & Margaret the wife
of Caleb Burbank all of Bradford were
witnesses that the clothes she then had
on were of his providing & bestowing
upon her. WILLIAM BALCH,
minister of We Gospel"
1t is noted by the same writer that in
all cases Of smock marriages that have
to his knowledge, the brides have
been widows.
1t Is thought that during the reign Of
George III. there were many smock
marriages in Maine, then a part of the
province of Massachusetts Bay-chIefy
In Lincoln and York counties, or In the
territory which Is now so known. There
Is nothing to show that the practice
outllved the revolution. In Maine, up
to 1852, a husband was llab BILE for debts
Of his wife contracted before marriage,
and no such subterfuge as the smock
marriage could relieve hlm.-Chicago
Inter Ocean.