On 01/08/2011 08:00, Marilyn wrote: > I have a LOT of marriages like that (in > NewEngland) where the first wife dies and the husband, needing support for > the children send for one of the sisters to help and one thing leads to > another and ... 2nd marriage and baby. (Not necessarily in that order.) > <another grin> ** Except that in the UK, it was ILLEGAL to marry a deceased wife's sister, until 1909. =-O Gordon.

really?? Well there would have been a lot more lawyers here then! Why was it considered illegal? You could marry cousins ....? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gordon Johnson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 11:00 AM Subject: [ANGUS] Deceased wife's sister..... > On 01/08/2011 08:00, Marilyn wrote: >> I have a LOT of marriages like that (in >> NewEngland) where the first wife dies and the husband, needing support for >> the children send for one of the sisters to help and one thing leads to >> another and ... 2nd marriage and baby. (Not necessarily in that order.) >> <another grin> > ** Except that in the UK, it was ILLEGAL to marry a deceased wife's > sister, until 1909. > =-O > Gordon. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

As I said, perhaps we colonists were a bit more imaginative . . . ;-) More seriously, I seem to recall some prohibition in the Bible (Old Testament, I think) to that relationship and the UK laws may have taken it to heart. In rural Canada and the US, however, men and women of marrying age were often hard to find and practicality tended to take precedence - such relationships were pretty frequent. I've seen many such arrangements in my extended Nova Scotian family (all Scots and English backgrounds,) possibly more than the first-cousin marriages that were particularly common in 18th century New England. On 8/1/2011 11:00 AM, Gordon Johnson wrote: > On 01/08/2011 08:00, Marilyn wrote: >> I have a LOT of marriages like that (in >> NewEngland) where the first wife dies and the husband, needing support for >> the children send for one of the sisters to help and one thing leads to >> another and ... 2nd marriage and baby. (Not necessarily in that order.) >> <another grin> > ** Except that in the UK, it was ILLEGAL to marry a deceased wife's > sister, until 1909. > =-O > Gordon. >

Hi Gordon & Marilyn I think it was the 1907 Act not that it makes any difference But frankly I have found many examples of it happening many years before that The usual ploy was to marry in another Parish or town where they were not known The following refers to England but was I believe applicable to Scotland as well http://www.genetic-genealogy.co.uk/Toc115570145.html#Toc115570255 Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > On 01/08/2011 08:00, Marilyn wrote: >> I have a LOT of marriages like that (in >> NewEngland) where the first wife dies and the husband, needing support for >> the children send for one of the sisters to help and one thing leads to >> another and ... 2nd marriage and baby. (Not necessarily in that order.) >> <another grin> > ** Except that in the UK, it was ILLEGAL to marry a deceased wife's > sister, until 1909. > =-O > Gordon.