You are correct, and religion played no small part in that upsurge in marriages after the war. ----- Original Message ----- From: K.... To: VA-SOUTHSIDE-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 3:04 PM Subject: Re: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] divorce in antebellum America In a message dated 8/9/2005 2:59:54 PM Central Daylight Time, pauldrake@charter.net writes: If two slaves considered themselves "married", what are the odds that they would have legitimized it after the war? Would they have considered themselves to be married under "common-law"? While researching marriages in Davidson County, Tennessee, I noticed that suddenly there were many pages of "colored" marriages in the time period that I was researching, the years just after the Civil War. It took me only a minute to realize that this was probably the result of pent-up demand, so to speak, for the right to marry. Although I don't know what Tennessee law was in the nineteenth century, current Tennessee law does not recognize common law marriage. Sara Binkley Tarpley ==== VA-SOUTHSIDE Mailing List ==== Always Keep Your Anti Virus Program Updated Regularly. USGW Archives Pension Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pensions/ ============================== Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.4/66 - Release Date: 8/9/2005