Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-11-28
SMOCK MARRIAGES
They We're Quite the Thing In the
Old Colonial Days
and NO One RAISED ANY OBJECTION
TIE Bride, to Be Sure, Wore Some
times Only chemise-oId Reeoras
Are Brought to Light.

court in the ancient to"h VI
set. Lincoln county. spent rainy art
ernoon rummaging through the coio-
NAL records of the place, and IN the
course of his reading came across the
official registration of "smock mar
riage." Not knowing what a "smocK
marriage" was, he looked further ana
qot some light on a custom that pre-
vailed in England and in some OF the
colonies as we'll in the eighteenth CEN
trry.
Smock marriages were weddings
where the bride appeared dressed only
in n white chemise or sheet. The rea-
son for it was the belief that II n man
married q. woman who was in debt he
could be held liable for what she owed
If he received with her any OF her
property; and also that If a woman
married n man who was in debt MS
creditors could not take her property
to satisfy their claims If he had recelV-
ed nothing from her at marriage. In
ENGLAND, says an antiquarian, tnere
was at least one case where a brlde
was in puris naturalibus while the
ceremony was being performed in the
great church in Birmingham. The
minister at first refused to perform the
ceremony, but he could find nothing IN
the rubic to justify refusal, so he mar
ried the pair.
To carry out the law fully rs the
people understood it the ceremony
should always have been performed as
it was in the Birmingham case, but
various cxpedients were contrived to
get around it. Sometimes the bride
stood in the closet and put her hand
through a hole in the door; some
times she stood behind a cloth screen
and put her hand out at one SIDE;
again, she would wind about her a
white sheet furnished by the BRIDE
groom; sometimes she stood IN her
chemise or "smock.". Eventually, IN
Essex county, immodcsty and embar-
rassment were 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 10
prove the fact in the event that he was
sued for any debts she might have
contracted.
A marriage of this kind was per-
formed in Bradford in 1878, the follow
ing being a true copy of the record:
A "Foxy" Bridegroom.
bradford. December ye "a, 1773.
"This may certifie whomsoever 1t
may concerne that James Bailey OF
Bradford who was married to the wild
ow Mary Bacos Nov. % last past by
me We subscriber then declared that
he took the said person without any
thing of estate and that Lydia the wife
of Eliazer Burbank & Mary the wife
of Thomas Stickney G. Margaret the
wife of Caleb Burbank all of Bradford
were witnesses that the clothes she
then had on were of his providing and
bestowing upon her.
WILLIAM BALCH, minister of ye
Gospel"
1t is noted by the same writer that
in all cases of smock marriages that
have come 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 Part of the Province Of Massa-
chusetts Bay, chiefly in the counties OF
Lincoln and York, or in the territory
that now is so known. One such mar
riage is reported in the archives Of the
Town of Friendship, Knox county
Originally known as Meduncook slSnl-
flying Sandy Harbor). 1t is also one
of the few instances in Maine history
where advantage was taken of the
provision of the law that in a COM
munity where there resided neither
minister nor magistrate a man and
woman who appeared before witnesses
read the marriage service to each 9TH
er and signed n marriage agreement
became lawfully welded.
Married Themselves.
Such a marriage was performed in
1772, and the record on the town books
reads:
"Certificate-This may certify all
whom it concerns that w. Elwell OF
Meduncook hath been duly published
to Hannah Thomas of Meduncook.
sid SEDATE WADSWORTH.
Clerk Meduncook April ye 18th, 1772."
"MeduncoOk, May 18th, 1772-
Whereas the subscribers, VIM. Elwe!l
and Hannah Thomas being lawfully
published &C. desirous of entering into
the holy state of Marriage & being
confined in a place where there is
neither minister or a magistrate, do
by these presents & and in the pres
encc of Almighty God & before these
witnesses that may sign this instru-
ment, engage & do take each other as
man and wife, according to the laws
of God and man, according to the best
of our capacities & as though we were
1,-n noic tn nr