Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-25
MAY NOT Married.
CARELEssXEss or PASTORS WILL
3 EFFECT LEGALITY or STATUS.
MANY COUPLES INTERESTED.
In Hundreds OF Cases. Minister'S. Of
the Gospel. who Have Performed
Weddins Ceremonies, Have Not
Returned License. to the HustinEs
Court.


Owing to the diffidence OF: the officiating
minister there are hundreds of married
couples iiving in Richmond a. nd others
who were married in:sthe city, and now
live elsewhere, that cannot depend on the
marriage ecords OF the city to prove
that they ale legally husband and wife.
The State law requires that all mar
rage licenses under which minister per-
forms a ceremony are to be returned to
the clerk office from which theyzare u.s.
sued with certificate of the union of
the couple named in the license together
with the date and place Of the constm-
nation of the marriage So
In numerous cases the officiating min
lister has failed to do this. The result is
that the court records show only that
the license was issued. and there is no
record that the marriage actually took
place.
While the sta .utcs of the State require
that the minister shall make return of
all marriages performed by them there
is no penalty attached to his neglect TO
do SO. The result is<tha Z the couple mar
ried is the one to suffer. Should they fail
to secure from the minister certificate
signed by two or more witnesses before
the minister should dit. and thesrecords
fail to disclose certificate that the
license was used. it would be absolutely
impossible fer them to secure from the
clerk Of the Hastings court an official
certificate of a lawful. union
This failure, on the art of ministers to
make proper return of marriages per-
formed is not confined to any one church
OF denomina ion. but it & is. believed that
il the facts were known that every de-
|. nomination In the city is affected.
a Study of the n ,arc!age record in the
Hastings Court Clerks office shows that
there ire hundreds of licenses that have
never been returned, by the minister.
Many of these are CT colored people, but
city.
The following list, which contains the
names of a very small percentage f5those
Interested, indica tes something Of the ac-
cnracy of the statement:
James H. Lester and Lula Bass, Sam
uel Reed and Lizzie Prior William D.
Barker and Saran j. Rudd, Edward L.
Col,el and Marie 3. Revers Thomas F.
McCune and Lillian e. Hobson. Walter
A.. Wright n d Edna earle Morrissette.
John J. cEvuy and Mary Alice Nc
Gruder. Char es Fisher and Hattie l.:
Clarke Linwoo' locker and Mary Mat
thews, lillian Turner and Matte Evans,
Clareice e. Lewis and Cora L. Allen.
Willit n S. Ahern and G. Aurelia Powers,
John F. Saville and Eannie Blackburne,
Granderson w. Thurman and Maggie P.
Burgess, Jesse D.~Isaacs and Florence NJ.
Owens. FL. Cabell Hudson I. and Mary
Katherine Hazlegrove. Edgar Pohlig and
Jessie NJ. Godsey, P. M. Edwards and
Marie v. Timberlake M. j. Burgess and
Josephine r. Moore, William Gratsnow-
sky and Marie Este. ies Loyal, Charles A.
Windle and Alice G. Loyal. James T..
Carter and Mary F.. Harper. John ]. Muir
ply, ia. and Nellie L. Block, Frank p
Ryan ard Gertrude ]. Moltz,. John j.
Smallwoo I'D and osa E. Banks -