Hi Jeanne, First thought that came to my mind was ,in Lynnfield, Ma. there was a Justice of the Peace. His name was Pastor HIGGINS. For years so many people from all over went to him. He has passed away. If his Bonds of marriage could be obtained, It would be a goldmine for people searching. There is a Library in Lynnfield, Wonder where all those marriages are? In Ma. you can take out papers in any town hall and then marry in another. Another thought New Hampshire is well known for people to cross the line to get married. Your time frame for Pastor HIGGINS was early. As you know the town has to be known. Good Luck, Joan ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeanne Arguelles <ejarguelles@msn.com> To: <BOSTON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 1:36 AM Subject: [BOSTON] Marriage question > Howdy All, > > I'm looking for a marriage that *should* have taken place in Boston c1886-1889. I've written to the MA Archives twice, but nothing found. I've had a really nice volunteer search variant spellings, but still nothing. What should I do next? Could they have married in another state? Was there a "Las Vegas" kind of place where Boston folks ran away to to get married? > > Jeanne > > > > ==== BOSTON Mailing List ==== > Discover the City Archives and Records of Boston: > http://www.ci.boston.ma.us/archivesandrecords/information.asp > > ============================== > 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 > >

At 06:59 AM 3/26/2002, Joan Blaisdell wrote: >First thought that came to my mind was ,in Lynnfield, Ma. there was a >Justice of the Peace. His name was Pastor HIGGINS. For years so many >people from all over went to him. He has passed away. If his Bonds of >marriage could be obtained, It would be a goldmine for people searching. >There is a Library in Lynnfield, Wonder where all those marriages are? In >Ma. you can take out papers in any town hall and then marry in another. >Another thought New Hampshire is well known for people to cross the line >to get married. I believe that, regardless of whether you were (are) married by a priest or a Justice of the Peace (JP), Mass. law requires (and certainly did in 1880s) that a record of all marriages performed in Mass. be returned to VRs (Department of Public Health). The attraction of the JP in New Hampshire was that there was no waiting--no need to file intentions and wait 3 days, as in Mass. (tho I think the more recent requirement of blood test may still have been a requirement). My parents were married by a JP in NH in 1943, when my dad was in the Navy and getting shipped out. >----- Original Message ----- >From: Jeanne Arguelles <ejarguelles@msn.com> >To: <BOSTON-L@rootsweb.com> > > > > I'm looking for a marriage that *should* have taken place in Boston > > c1886-1889. I've written to the MA Archives twice, but nothing found. > > I've had a really nice volunteer search variant spellings, but still > > nothing. What should I do next? Could they have married in another > > state? Was there a "Las Vegas" kind of place where Boston folks ran > > away to to get married? Bob Geldart bgeldart@aics.net Maynard, MA