Thank you for your reply. I concede I can be wrong but I remember reading a newspaper article about the marriages. I will look it up again. It may have had something to do with the Property Act in the late 1800s. Have found only limited information on the net about Step marriages. UK only allows step marriages if the stepchild did not live in the step relationship prior to turning 18. I suppose that is to do with protecting the person from undue influence. And cousins may marry if they have a blood test. Some States in the US do not allow step marriages so persons cross the border to marry. I will take the advice of the earlier reply about contacting the church. I am not trying to belittle the ancestors but trying to find a logical explanation for the non-marriage. Thanks to all who showed interest. Kris Kristine Wood McGroders <gordonmc@netspace.net.au> 25/02/03 12:49 Please respond to AUS-NSW-PENRITH-L To: AUS-NSW-PENRITH-L@rootsweb.com cc: Subject: Re: [AUS-NSW-PENRITH] A point of Law Hello Kristine, My Great-great aunt married in NSW in 1855, and when her husband died, she married his brother in 1865 in Victoria. I have both marriage certificates. Regards, Jill At 09:27 AM 24/02/2003 +1000, you wrote: >Hi Listers, >I wonder if anyone can help me. I have an ancestor who may have married >their widowed stepmother in the 1860s. There is no record of the marriage >taking place and I wanted to know if it was lawful at the time. They also >moved out of the area to a place where they were not known. I know that >widowed men could marry their wife's sister but widowed women could not >marry their husband's brother and I thought this case could also be one of >those laws. > > Kristine Wood > > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

Hi Listers, The Anglican Book of Common Prayer is on the net. Well a form of the 1662 with amendments but basically the same version. The list of non valid marriages is in No. 34 A Table of Kindred and Affinity. http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/misc/kindred.html Kristine Wood