The L'Anse sentinel., 1922-10-06
Records Show That Such Cere-
monies Were Common in
Early Colonial Times.
FREED GROOM OF WIFE'S DEBT
Sometimes She Wore Only a Sheet
but Nobody obJected-Embarrass-
mont often Relieved by Happy
Man Buying Trousseau.

Bangor, Me.-A Bangor lawyer at
tending court In the ancient town of
Wiscasset, Lincoln county, spent O
rainy afternoon rummaging through
the colonial records of the place, and
In the course of his reading came
across the official registration OF d
'smock marriage" Not knowing what
q "smock marriage" was, he looked
further and got some light on Gus.
tom that prevailed in England and In
SOME of the colonies as well In the
Eighteenth century.
Smock marriages were weddings
where the bride appeared dressed only
In white chemise OF sheet. The
reason for 1t was the belief that II Il
man married a 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 Il
woman married man who was In debt
his creditors could not take her prop
\ erty to satisfy their claims If he hnd
received nothing from her at marriage.
In England, says an antiquarian, there
was at least one case where Il Drlde
was In puris naturalibus while the
ceremony was being performed In the
great church ut birmingham. The
minister at first refused to perform
the ceremony, but he could find moth
Ing in the rubric to justify refusal, SO
he married the pair.
Use Various Expedients.
To carry out the law fully as the
people understood 1t the ceremony
should always have been performed
as 1t was in the Birmingham case, but
various expedlents were contrived to
get around Ii. Sometimes the bride
stood In a closet, and put her hand
through hole in the door; some
times she stood behind cloth screen
and put her hand out at one side;
again, she would wind about her q
white sheet furnished by the bride
groom; sometimes she stood In her
chemise, or "smock." Eventually. In
Essex county, immodesty 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
to 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 1913, the fol-
lowing being q true copy of the rec
ord:
A "Foxy" Bridegroom.
bradford, Dec. re "a, 1878.
'This may certifie whomsoever 1t
may concerne that James Bailey Of
Bradford who was married to the
widow Mary Bacon November % last
past by me We subscriber then de-
.lared that he took the said person
without anything Of estate and that
lydia the wife Of Eliazer Burbank &
Mary the wife Of Thomas Stickney 4
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.
civilian BALCH, minister Of ye
Gospel"
1t is noted by the same writer that
in oil cases of smock marriages that
have come to his knowledge the brides
have been widows. It 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