Genealogy Chat

Thank you so much. The more I learn the more interesting it gets. I think the irregular form might be what I am looking for. Could I also ask, if a woman married in 1876 but stated that she married again in 1881 (though on a later document it says married with "illegitmate" in brackets, would that be a habit and repute as in Common Law? How did people get divorced? Was there a common custom of ending a marriage, perhaps amicably? The "marriage" in question does not seem to have caused any problems within the family. When the woman's husband died (after her) her mother was nursing him. What sort of sanctions would have been felt by people ending or leaving marriages in this class (working - he was a slater journeyman)? Was it common? Thank you again Abigail

England abolished common law marriage in 1753.

Hope this helps Wendy, it's a bit long winded but should explain things. Marriage Forms and Practices In Scotland From the time of the Reformation and the founding of the Church of Scotland in 1560, marriage ceased to be a church sacrament. It became a civil matter based upon the consent of adult individuals. How the marriage took place, meaning its form, might have been regular or irregular, but it was a binding union. A regular marriage took place before a church minister following the reading of banns. An irregular marriage came about in one of three ways: by mutual agreement, or by a public promise followed by consummation, or by cohabitation and repute. In all cases, for regular and irregular marriages, both bride and groom had to be free to marry, not within forbidden degrees of kinship and over the age of consent (12 for brides and 14 for grooms). Marriage Registers In the Scottish church, "marriage" registers are usually registers of the proclamation of banns; sometimes the marriage is recorded as well. Proclamations were often read in the parishes of the bride and the groom, helpful to genealogists. Sometimes irregular marriages were recorded in the kirk session records because a fine or some other discipline was imposed. In a lot of cases the marriage has no record at all and it has been suggested the rate of unrecorded irregular marriages may be as high as 30 percent (Leneman, L. “Marriage North of the Border”). An Increase in Regular Marriages The number of irregular marriages increased after 1689 when William III and his government approved the disestablishment of the Episcopalian church in Scotland. At least two-thirds of the Episcopal ministers were unemployed and many went to Edinburgh to seek other forms of work. Some went into business marrying people, those who did not want banns proclaimed or chose not to be married in their home parish but wanted some kind of service with a minister. Edinburgh was the center for most irregular marriages and after the 1730s the ministers were not necessarily Episcopal. According to law, a minister performing irregular marriages could be disciplined, even transported. However, this neither stopped the ministers nor put an end to irregular marriages. There was for a time a fashion for marrying in an irregular way. Needless to say, all was not happiness and bliss. There were disputes as to whether a marriage was legal. The Commissary Court of Edinburgh from 1560 to 1830 had the authority to find whether or not a marriage had taken place. Because marriage ceased to be a sacrament in 1560, divorce in Scotland could be granted from that date. The commissary court handled divorce cases as well. Decisions could be appealed to the Court of Session and, after the union with England in 1707, to the House of Lords; obviously a legal route taken only by the wealthy. Finding Records of Irregular Marriages There are two or three places to look, in the kirk session records of the home parish, in records of ministers or churches noted for irregular marriages, and in the records of the commissary court. Within the Scottish databases at Ancestry.com, and on the Scottish Parish Registers CD, West Lothian and Midlothian can be found the Calendar of Irregular marriages in the South Leith Kirk Session Records, 1697-1818 (Marshall, J.S. Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society, 1968). This source is also available in the Family History Library. Here is one entry that gives lots of interesting facts and suggests additional avenues of research: Thomas Kirk, a sergeant in Whyteman's regiment, and Marion Dalrymple, by Mr. James Cruikshanks, at Mountainhall, 13 Nov 1710. “The session being informed that she hath a husband alive in Spain, and that she can give no evidence of his death but only by her own words, referrs [sic] the affair to the presbytery for advice, and referrs [sic] her to the magistrats [sic] to be brought under caution to compeer [sic] befor [sic] the session when called.” Conclusion Scottish marriage law allowed couples to keep their options open and they did take advantage of being able to marry irregularly, especially in the 1700s. The numbers dropped in the 1800s and change came in 1939, when only the habit and repute form of irregular marriage continued to be recognized by the law. As for Gretna Green its fame dates from 1754 when Lord Hardwicke's Act came into effect with the purpose of eliminating clandestine marriages in England. Gretna became a popular destination for runaway couples and remained so long after the law changed the residency requirements in 1856

Regular, Irregular and Common Law I have found these terms in the scottish records I have been researching. Applied to marriages are they legal terms or do they just mean that a couple "shacked up" permanently? Regards Abigail