The marriage of widows made special laws needful. Property was held in
the name of the husband. The wife owned nothing, though it came from the
meagre dowry of her own father. When the husband died the widow had
certain rights as long as she "remained his widow." These rights were
small at best, though the estate may have been accumulated through years
of their mutual toil and hardships. We have notes of a number of cases,
but give only a few. We omit the names of the contracting parties.
"T---- C---- of A---- and H---- B---- of S----, widow were married
together, September y'e 28th, 1748, before O---- B---- J.P. And at ye
same time y'e s'd H---- solemnly declared as in y'e presence of Almighty
God & before many witnesses, that she was in no way in possession of her
former husband's estate of whatever kind soever neither possession or
reversion." An excellent Deacon married an elderly matron, Dorothea
----, and before the Justice of Peace "Y'e s'd Dorothea declared she
was free from using any of her former husband's estate, and so y'e
s'd Nathaniel [the Deacon] received her." The following declarations
are not without interest.
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