By Ginger Frere
Not sure where your ancestors married? Can’t find the marriage records you’re seeking? Try looking for records in the local Gretna Green!
Gretna Green is a village located in southern Scotland right near the border between Scotland and England. Until 1857, marriage requirements in Scotland were very simple. The couple had to state their wish to be married before a witness, they could not be within forbidden degrees of kinship, could not already be married, the boy had to be at least 14 and the girl 12 years of age.
In 1753, Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act changed the age of consent to 21 and added other legal requirements for a valid marriage. As the Marriage Act was an English law and did not change Scottish law, Gretna Green became a popular destination for couples seeking to avoid compliance with the new laws. Over time, the phrase “Gretna Green” came to mean any location where eloping couples could seek a hasty marriage.
In the United States, the requirements for a valid marriage have changed over time and vary from state to state. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, numerous towns pronounced themselves the “Gretna Green of America”.
There were numerous reasons our ancestors may have sought a “Gretna Green” marriage. Some couples preferred the anonymity. Others were in a hurry and wanted to avoid a wait or medical examination. Still others fled to states where the age of consent was younger. Couples who were marrying after one party had been divorced may have been avoiding laws that forbid remarriage for at least a year. But in many cases, it was probably the spontaneity or romance of elopement that was the deciding factor.
In the 1870’s, one of the popular marriage destinations was Aberdeen, Ohio where the magistrate performed over 4,000 marriages. Many of these couples were from Kentucky. In fact, so many that the state legislature of Kentucky passed a special act legalizing the marriages performed by “Squire Shelton” who was not known for his compliance with the law and who was quoted as saying that “Love knows no law.”
In 1888, Ohio and West Virginia required that a marriage license be obtained from authorized county officials before the ceremony could be performed. Pennsylvania had no such regulations and the little village of West Alexander became the wedding destination of over 6,000 couples.
Chicago couples flocked to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to tie the knot in the 1890’s. The tide turned in 1899 when a new Wisconsin marriage law imposed a delay of five days between issuance of the license and the performance of the ceremony. Waukegan, Illinois then became a popular spot for a quick wedding.
A June 11, 1900 Chicago Tribune article describes a race to wed at another Gretna Green, St. Joseph, Michigan. The age of consent was 18 and the names of the parties applying for the license did not have to become public. “Yesterday was matrimonial derby day at St. Joe and over thirty couples entered in the three-quarter mile race for the preacher….The Chicago boat reached its dock at St. Joe at 2:25 p.m. At 2:42 ½ the first couple had been married”.
As marriage laws continued to change in an attempt to slow divorce rates and as more states passed hygienic marriage laws, business in the Gretna Greens continued to flourish. On July 1, 1937 an Illinois law requiring a medical examination went into effect. Between July 1st and July 12th, only 45 marriage licenses had been issued in Cook County. Of the 310 licenses issued in Crown Point, Indiana for the same time period, 262 were issued to Illinois residents, 208 of who were from Chicago (Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1937, p.11).
In the mid-west, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky as well as North and South Dakota, had passed laws requiring medical exams by 1939. Iowa, Missouri and Ohio soon followed, putting many of the near-by “marriage mills” out of business.
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