By Rev. Anson Titus.
The story of courtship and marriage is ever fascinating. It is new and
fresh to the hearts of the youthful and aged. A few words upon the
marriage day in the early New England will not be without interest.
September 9, 1639, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony passed
a law ordering intentions of marriage to be published fourteen days at
the public lecture, or in towns where there was no lecture the
"intention" was to be posted "vpon some poast standinge in publique
viewe." On this same day it was ordered that the clerks of the several
towns record all marriages, births and deaths. This was a wise
provision. It at once taught the people of the beginning and of the
designed stability of the new-founded government.
The course of true love did not run smooth in these early days any more
than to-day. Parents were desirous of having sons and daughters
intermarry with families of like social standing and respectability. But
the youth and maid often desired to exercise their own freedom and
choice. On May 7, 1651, the General Court ordered a fine and punishment
against those who "seeke to draw away y'e affections of yong maydens.
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