This may be true of my Mary BOYD who married Isaac Johnson in Onslow Co N.C., in 1779.  I believe they were Presbyterians and I do not know what the procedure was at that time for that Demonation. This is what I remembered about the Colonial Records and they are hard to find. joyce -- On Tue, 3/8/11, Joyce a. Luna <joycealuna28@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Joyce a. Luna <joycealuna28@yahoo.com> Subject: Colonial America My opinion of what I read and remembered. To: "Dianne Armstrong" <di@montanapets.org> Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 10:46 PM In Colonial times if a couple wanted to get married, and their family was wealthy they would have a formal announcement. If not it was to be announced in the Church or neighborhood at least three times for it to be legal .  Getting married was easier and divorced then because there did not have to be a legal annnouncement or a big to do over it. I do understand now, that there was not always a record unless the families announced it in church and it was written down. Now all congregations did not have to make records and that is why the Catholic church records were easier to locate than other demonations. If a man left his wife, she could re-marry much eaiser and no one would know or hear about it. Since then the laws in Colonial America have been changed.  Is this about the way it was? joyce

I read a good book called "Proud Mahaska", by Semira Ann Hobbs Phillips. This book is about people in Mahaska Co., Iowa, from 1843 to 1900. The author said that when people got married, they did it at home and told people afterwards. It was a simple affair and sounded pretty spur of the moment with no engagement period or big ta-doo like we do today. It was probably because people were not well off then. http://books.google.com/books?id=6FgEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Semira+Ann+Hobbs+Phillips+%28%22Mrs.+T.G.+Phillips.%22%29%22&hl=en&ei=y8N3Te3dEaLk0gH4urjnBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v =onepage&q&f=false I liked the book so much that my husband bought me a copy. My Boyds lived in Mahaska Co. but there was no mention of them in the book. At least I learned what their lives probably were "back then". I loved this book! You can read it free on line.