The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-09-12
RECORDS Reveal
QUEER ceremony :. ! \
Lawyer Unearths Interesting In
j formation About "Smock
Marriages"
were COMMON CENTURY ago
Rrides Appeared In seant Attire to
Protect Husband From Liability Tor
h. pebts-varieus Expedient'
70 Preserve Modesty.

Bangor. Maine.-A Bangor lawyer
attending court in the ancient town OF
Wiscasset, Lincoln county, recently
went rummaging in the Colonial court
records of the place and In the course
Of his reading came across the official
registration Of a "smock marriage"
Not knowing what smock marriage
was, the lawyer looked farther, and
got considerable light upon strange
custom prevalent in England cen
fury or more ago and also to some e1-
tent in the American colonies.
Smock marriages were weddings
where the bride appeared dressed IN q
white sheet or chemise. The reason
for such a garb was the belief that II
4 man married a woman who was in
debt he could be held liable for her
indebtedness If he received with her
any Of her property; and also. that II
\ woman married q man who was In
debt, his creditors could not take her
property to satisfy their claims If he
had received nothing from her at
marriage.
In England, says an antiquarian,
there was at least one case where q
bride was clothed in puris naturalibus
while the ceremony was being per-
formed In the great church at Birming-
ham. The minister at first refused
70 perform the ceremony, but, finding
nothing in the rubric that would ex-
euse him, he finally married the pair.
To carry out the law fully as the
people understood 1t, the ceremony
should always have been performed as
It was in the church at Birmingham,
N the case noted. but, modesty for
adding, various expedients we're used
70 accomplish the desired end without
ahe unpleasant features.
Sometimes the bride stood In a
closet and put her hand through hole
Ia the door; sometimes she stood be-
hind a cloth screen and put her hand
cut at one side: again, she wound
about her q white sheet furnished by
The bridegroom, and sometimes she
stood in her chemise or smock. Event
ually, in Essex county at least, all i'm
modesty was avoided by the groom
furnishing all the clothes worn by the
bride, retaining title to the same in
himself. This he did in the presence of
witnesses, that he might be able to
prove the fact in case he was sued
tor any debts, she might have con-
tracted
A marriage of this kind occurred at
Bradford in 1913. and the following IS
\ true copy Of the record Of the same:
Bradford. Dec. We "a. 1773.
This may certifie whomsoever it may
eoncerne that James Bailey of Brad
Sord who was married to the widow
Mary Bacon Nov. % last past by me
re subscriber then declared that he
look said person without anything Of
estate and that Lydia the wife Of
Elinzer Burbank & Mary the wife of
Thomas Stickney and Margaret the
wife Of Caleb Burbank all Of bradford
were witnesses that the clothes she
then had on were Of his providing and
bestowed upon her
WILLIAM BALCH.
Minister Of We Gospel.
It is noted by the same writer that
IN nil cases of smock marriages that
have come to his notice the brides
have been widows.
It 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, chief
~ in the counties Of Lincoln and York,
or in the territory which Is now so
snown.
Practice Died Before Revolution.
There is nothing to show that the
practice outlived the revolution. In
Maine, up to 1852, a husband was liza
Die for debts Of his wife contracted
before marriage, and no such subter-
fuge as the smock marriage could re-
Neve him.
Smock marriages were frequently
performed in Vermont about century
ago. They were entirely honorable to
both the participants, for they put
wholly aside all considerations Of
financial and selfish interest. Accord
Eng to tradition, they all turned out
happily, and well they might. The
principle involved in them may be said
10 have triumphed in our social life
the great majority Of marriages being
now smock marriages in the sense that
the parties are financially Independent
NJ ea ch other
BY the way, one Of the earliest and
strongest arguments for woman SUI
TRACE was the necessity Of relieving
women from the financial bondage that
hey were under to their husbands so
years ago. All that woman had then
practically belonged to her husband.
Wendell Phillips, in his address at the
FIRST national woman suffrage conven.
ton, held at Worcester in October,
1851, called attention to curious case
that had lately occurred in this state.
4 man married woman who had
$4,000 of her own, inherited from her
asaher. Dying about q year after his
nastiake, this man left q remarkably
-,.nHs.,s~ AMI mo n1v vi1l-hA 1aft thAal