Ailshire/Aleshire
Return to Home
Return to Ailshire Family Records Page

The first law regulating marriages in the Territory was published in the fall of 1788, at Marietta.

Section 1. Provided that males of the age of fourteen, and not prohibited by the laws of God, might be joined in marriages.

Section 2. Provided that any of the Judges of the General Court or Common Pleas or ministers of any religious society within the district in which they resided, might solemnize marriages.

Section 3. Provided that before being joined in marriage, the parties should give notice of their intentions by having them proclaimed the preceding Sabbath in their congregation ; or notices in writing under the hand and seal of one of the Judges before mentioned, or a Justice of the Peace of the county, and posted in some public place in the town where the parties respectively resided ; or a license might be obtained from the Governor, under his hand and seal, authorizing the marriage without the publication aforesaid.

 A supplementary act was passed August I, 1792, empowering every Justice of the Peace to solemnize marriages in their respective counties, after publication aforesaid, or upon license.