twssls@flash.net writes: This is a question about a GA marriage license of 1814, but perhaps someone will know the answer. It reads in part "......if they be of lawful age and authorized by the ______tical degrees and for your so doing this shall be your sufficient license....". This is why I'm going to buy stock in the Google IPO, even though my rich friends tell me I shouldn't. It took about ten seconds to find (from the Georgia Secretary of State website) that the phrase is: >>authorized by Levitical degrees<< http://www.sos.state.ga.us/archives/rs/dmgsl.htm So, you might ask, what exactly does that mean? Leviticus, of course, is the book in the Bible that says it's all right to beat your slaves as long as you don't wear nylons. It also has rules, as you guessed, regarding consanguinity. >>LEVITICAL DEGREES. Those degrees of 'kindred set forth' in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus, within which persons are prohibited to marry.<< http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Levitical%20degrees