Excellent point about pregnant brides, Virginia. The other aspect comes under the heading of "separation of church and state." In the Catholic church, marriage is a sacrament. Often Irish parishes intentionally did not comply with civil authorities. On page 3 of license form it states "any person or persons who shall wilfully neglect to make such return within the time above [by the 10th of the next month], shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine no less than twenty-five dollars or more than fifty dollars for each and every offense." Since Tammany was running NYC until the 1950s, you better believe that no priest or parish would be fined. Ah the sweet smell of corruption at work! Barb MizScarlettNY@aol.com I found one story where a priest was threatened with jail if he didn't send the state his marriage records. He refused but I never found that he was jailed.Good luck--Virginia