Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-06-29
THEY AIM TO KEEP
THE RECORDS STRIGHT
AmeriCus D. A. R. Seek to
Have Law Enacted
To Remedy PalpabIe
Deficiencies in Mar
riage License System

Drawn by j. E. D. Shipp, Esq, al
the instance of the Council of Safet,
Chapter, Daughter of the American
revolution, of Amerlcus, and intro
duced by Representative j. E. Shep-
pard, at the request of that chapter. q
Dill is now before the Georgia legis-
lature that, if enacted into law. will
go a long ways toward keeping the
marriage records of Georgia straight
as well as of making them more com
plete and more serviceable than they
Eave been during the past hundred
years.
Under the existing law-one might
almost say lack of law-the records
OF marriage have been very inadequate
and entirely superficial in their nature.
ANY one could go to the ordinary and
take out marriage license. The
names might be fictitious-such things
nave been known-and at the best the
license conveyed little information. be-
ing merely a statement that any per-
son authorized by law could marry
the parties whose names were men
toned in the license. Inasmuch as /
is not an uncommon thing for two or
more persons in a community to have
the same name, it is not surprising
that in after years it kas been diff
cult to locate exactly who the parties
married were. In one bgamy suit it
was impossible to obtain a conviction
because it was found that there were
several parties of the same name in
the county, and that marriage licenses
had been issued to more than one of
them in short space of time.
In many states the Daughters of the
American Revolution have succeeded
in having legislation enacted that
remedied these weaknesses of the
present Georgia law. They are now
seeking to have Georgia put itself
abreast of the other states in this re-
spect. The bill was drawn by Mr..
Shipp at the instance of a committee
composed of Mrs. w K. Bell, Mrs.
Charles Fricker and Mrs. w. A. Dod-
son. 1t provides that no license shall
be issued except to a responsible par
ty and that the facts set forth mu2t
be under oath. The full names, ages,
dates of birth and places of birth of
the contracting parties must be given,
and the same information supplied as
completely as possible, of their par
ents. If one of the parties has been
previously married the fact must be
stated, and whether the consort is
dead or living. If widow the maiden
name would be given so as to ensure
identity. 1t must also be sworn that
no legal disability exists on the part
of either of the contracting parties.
1t is provided that the blanks that
are filled in with this information re-
quired by law must be kept in a well
bound book in the ordinarys office and
be open to public inspection.
This is uniform with the require
ments in many other states at this
time. The present Georgia law is no.
toriously inadequate The Council of
Safety Chapter. which has undertaken
the important work of arousing pub
lie opinion. will invite the other chan
ters of the organization throughout
the state to take up the matter with
their representatives in the legislature
and seek to enlist general support for
a measure that cannot possibly be OBJ
jeeted to on any material grounds.