Quaker marriage.

[littlewren]

I found a Quaker marriage today,it is from 1777. There is a list of people (over 30 various surnames) who were present and it says above this list Relations. Could anyone please tell me if this means they are related to the bride and groom. Can I assume they were all Quakers.

Thank you.
Little Wren.

[stanmapstone]

A Quaker wedding

The couple sign the wedding certificate, which records their promises, followed by two witnesses (often the parents) and then the registering officer reads out the whole certificate. (Everyone present is responsible for witnessing and upholding the marriage so everyone else will sign the certificate too, even the youngest child, but as this signing can take a long time to complete it is usually resumed after the meeting for worship.)

http://www.rootschat.com/links/03ka/


Stan

[pete edwards]

Hi Little Wren

Shrewsbury Society of Friends.

The earliest visits of Quaker Preachers to Shrewsbury and its neighbourhood appear to have been about the year  1654. The strangers were apprehended and committed, but were guarded out of town "with a pass towards their own country, but two friends of Shrewsbury, that is to say, William Payne and Katherine Broughton, brought them on their way." George Fox visited Shrewsbury in  1657  and again in  1667. Before  1660  a "hired house in the town of Shrewsbury" was used as the recognised place of Meetings for Worship. After the organisation of the Society had become more settled, it was agreed at a Meeting held at Dolobran in  1668  of "Representatives from ye several Meetings in Shropshire, Montgomeryshire, and Merionethshire," that "Charles Lloyd and Thomas Lloyd doe register all births, marriages and deaths, and sufferings of Friends of all kinds"; and in  1669  it was agreed to purchase "a Meeting Room and an enclosure for a Burying place" in Shrewsbury. Accordingly in  1670 , Constantine Overton became the purchaser from John Thomas of two messuages, with their appurtenant gardens and premises, in a certain street called St. John's Hill,and assigned the same to trustees on behalf of the Society. About the same time John Millington gave a part of a garden: and afterwards Owen Roberts contributed £80 to the Society's funds, which were expended about  1750  in the rebuilding of the Meeting Room; which again was rebuilt and enlarged in  1807. From the association of Montgomeryshire with Shropshire the existing Register Book is not complete, and it is believed one or more volumes were lost on the removal of the Lloyd family from Dolobran about  1730. Since about  1710  the Shropshire Registers have been kept more distinctly separate, and they include the other Meetings as well as Shrewsbury, to which centre the present volume chiefly relates. It may not be out of place to explain that the number of signatures to the Registers or Certificates of Marriage arises from the care which was desired to be taken to certify each marriage. That there should be full publicity of the intentions of the parties, after enquiry as to the absence of other engagements and as to the consent of parents or guardians, was the invariable preliminary to the solemnisation of the contract, which also took place publicly, as is the rule at the present time, in a religious Meeting of the Society.

Pete

[littlewren]

Thank you for your helpful replies Stan and Pete.

Little wren.

(I am finding the Quakers very interesting.)

[duckweed]

Hi I belong to the Religious Society of Friends and was married 19 years ago in Lancaster at a Meeting for Worship. We kept to the old tradition of having a marriage certificate in the Friends tradition as well as the modern marriage certificate. On it besides our declarations are all the signatures of those present at the wedding. I was told the original reason was so that the authorities could not pick out one person as officiating as that was illegal and liable to imprisonment and possibly transportation. Quaker weddings were not counted as legal as they were not carried out by the official church. Eventually Quakers and Jews were the only ones allowed to wed outside the established church without a licence. Only recently Methodists had to marry either in an established church or go to the registration office. If you can get access to the Meeting Records you would also find other details about the couple leading up to the wedding in the Meeting for Business.  The future husband would be queried as to his financial state etc by the elders. Doesn't happen now.   

[stanmapstone]

Only recently Methodists had to marry either in an established church or go to the registration office.

That is not correct  With the introduction of Civil Registration in 1837 places of Religious Worship could be registered for solemnising marriages. This included Methodist Chapels.

XVIII. And be it enacted, That any Proprietor or Trustee of a separate Building, certified according to Law as a Place of Religious Worship, may apply to the Superintendent Registrar of the District in order that such Building may be registered for solemnizing Marriages therein,

XX. And be it enacted, That after the Expiration of the said Period of Twenty-one Days, or of Seven Days if the Marriage is by Licence, Marriages may be solemnized in the registered Building stated as aforesaid in the Notice of such Marriage, between and by the Parties described in the Notice and Certificate, according to such Form and Ceremony as they may see fit to adopt : Provided nevertheless, that every such Marriage shall be solemized with open Doors, between the Hours of Eight and Twelve in the Forenoon, in the Presence of some Registrar of the District in which such registered Building is situate, and of Two or more credible Witnesses ;
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~framland/acts/actind.htm


Stan

[stanmapstone]

Hardwicke's requirement for marriages to be celebrated from 1754 only after the issue of a marriage licence or the reading of banns and in buildings licensed for publishing banns, did not apply to Quakers or Jews. However from the 1836 Act the local civil Superintendent Registrar had to be notified of every marriage, which the Friends' Registering Officer took care of.


Stan

[duckweed]

Thanks I knew I was right. I remember from my father who was a Methodist Minister it could be difficult getting a licence for a church to carry out weddings and that was more recent than 1837.  Whereas in a quaker wedding we just needed documentary evidence that there was an established Meeting for Worship in that building.  The Meeting appoints a designated elder who acts as registrar and makes sure all the legal documents are in order.  The Meeting asks for several members to be present at the marriage. The couple make their statements at some time during the Meeting for Worship and then the Meeting for Worship continues.  As my husband to be had not become a member though he went to Meeting he had to have 2 elders vouch for him. 

[stanmapstone]

Thanks I knew I was right. I remember from my father who was a Methodist Minister it could be difficult getting a licence for a church to carry out weddings and that was more recent than 1837. 

That might have been the case for your father but you said Only recently Methodists had to marry either in an established church or go to the registration office. which is not true. Methodists, and all other nonconformists, including Catholics, have been able to solemnize marriages in their place of worship from July 1837, if the building was registered.


Stan