I have another question for the experts out there regarding how doweries worked back in the 1700s. If you were a father and had money you would pay a Dowery (or Dower) when your daughter married. A marriage settlement would be drawn up and lands and / or monies would be given to the groom and family as a dowery. 1) What happened if the husband died before children were born? Would the widow be sent home to her parents or allowed to stay on her husband's lands? 2) If the husband died sometime later, after children were born, and the widow remarried would a Dowery be paid for the 2nd marriage? If so would the widow have to pay this herself by selling some of her late husband's lands or would her father, or if he was dead a brother, be expected to pay for the 2nd marriage? Thanks, Karen