Marriage in the News

by Karen Ballentine

In the English court of appeal has just been concluded a remarkable trial in which the question at issue Can a dead man be divorced by law? The Buchanan Record gives an account of one of the most remarkable events ever occurring in the state, the recent wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, of Royalton, who have been married eighty years. Mr. Johnson is 104 years old and Mrs. Johnson is 103. During medieval times a woman who had nothing when she was married escaped responsibility for her debts. Women were then often married in a single garment to relieve themselves of indebtedness. A young and noble German lady of the sixteenth century, to make assurance doubly sure, had the marriage ceremony performed while she was standing in a closet entirely divested of clothing. She put out her hand through the crack of the door and was thus married. As soon as the ceremony was performed the groom, clergyman and witnesses left the room. The bride then came out arrayed in clothes provided by her husband and took her place at the marriage feast. That “love laughs at locksmiths” has been demonstrated hundreds of times but the truth of the time worn saying was brought out more forcibly than ever last evening when a lovelorn couple overcame all obstacles to their marriage by having themselves united in the bonds of matrimony through a hole in the wall. A unique wedding notice—The following strange notice is going the rounds, variously “The bride was born of honest but well-meaning parents and could walk alone at six months. At 10 she could run real fast and has never slackened her gait. She has many friends—most of them dead ones. The happy couple took a bridal trip to Westly and will be at home with the old man until they are kicked out.” Mrs. Chris Larson, who is the mother of 16 children, celebrated her thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, Sunday, April 11, at Black Eagle. Nine of her children are now grown and live at home. Also, two of her six grand children celebrated their birthdays on Mrs. Larson’s wedding anniversary. The six year old and three year old tots each had a cake with the respective number of candles on it. Think stories didn’t go viral in 1868? This one A STUNNING LOVE LETTER The following is sublimely splendiferous and we recommend it as a model to letter writers. Read the rest of the above stories plus many more of weird weddings, unusual wedding customs, dreadful divorces, murders and mayhem, and marriages that lasted 75, 80, and even 100 years.

117 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 4, 2016