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The Beaver has made frequent allusions to the fact that those of the
early settlers of this country, who desired to get married, found a good deal
of difficulty in doing so, because of the scarcity of ministers legally
authorized to solemnize marriages. We
have alluded to the fact that for some years, beginning with 1786, the Rev.
John Langhorn, of Ernesttown, was the only regular Church of England Minister
in the province west of Kingston, and he would only solemnize marriages in
one or other of his regular churches, at Bath or Fredericksburgh, and even
there before the hour of 11 o’clock in
the forenoon. some of those who were
married by him in those early years found it necessary to tread many long and
weary miles to reach there at all, and especially at so early an hour in the
day. And yet he married many hundreds
of people between that year and 1813, the year he returned to his native
land. We have also mentioned the fact that the
Rev. Robert McDowall was the first regular Presbyterian minister west of
Cornwall, and from the time of his arrival in this district, in 1798, to the
end of his active ministry, he is said to have solemnized at least two
thousand marriages. We have published too, the fact that
beginning with 1794, the Rev. John G. Wigant, the
first Lutheran minister in this district, married a large number of person,
and especially those who were adherents of the Lutheran denomination.
Allusion has also been made of the fact that there is still, at Picton, and
authentic list of a large number of marriages celebrated by Stephen conger, a
justice of the peace, in the absence of any legally authorized minister in
Prince Edward county to do so. All that time in these counties, and in
other sections of the Province, there were a number of regularly ordained
Methodist ministers at work in the various sections, but the law did not
authorize them to do so. Darius Dunham
first began his regular ministerial labors in this province in 1792, and
continued to live in the province until his death, in 1825, and yet he and
his many colleagues in all that time were not allowed to perform the marriage
ceremony, even among their own people.
It will be seen from what follows that it was not till 1831 that the
Methodist and some other ministers were legally authorized. Several bills had passed the Upper Canada
Assembly (elected by the people) before that time, but they were always
rejected by the Legislative council, a body appointed, as our dominion Senate
now is, by the government, and made up largely of members of the Church of
England and of old school Tories. At
that time there were over fifty Methodist ministers regularly at work in the
province, with between 10,000 and 12,000 members. MR. TASKER’S STATEMENT
The Ontario
Historical Society has just published a very interesting and valuable summary
history of the U.E. Loyalist settlement at Long Point, on Lake Erie and
adjacent localities, written by L. H. Tasker, M.A.,
of Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute.
It also contains some very interesting information in regard to
general matters relating to the early pioneers. There is a chapter on the early marriage
laws, from which we take the following extracts. The information is valuable,
and we have not seen it so completely compiled elsewhere. “There were but few clergymen in Upper
Canada in the early years of the century.
Mr. Addison (Church of England) of Niagara, was the nearest minister
to Long Point. Consequently, almost
any person who held any public position whatsoever was called upon to perform
the ceremony; as for example, the
captain of a regiment , a colonel, adjutant, magistrate or sheriff. In a letter of Lieut. - Governor Simcoe’s
to Lord Dundas, dated November, 6th, 1792, he calls attention to
the necessity of a bill to make valid marriages contracted in Upper Canada
and to provide for them in the future, and he enclosed a bill for the purpose
framed by Chief Justice Osgood, and a report on the same subject submitted by
Mr. Richard Cartwright (grandfather of our Sir Richard). “To avoid complications which might have
resulted by illegal marriages, the Parliament of Upper Canada, in 17--,
passed an act to confirm and to make valid certain marriages, heretofore
contracted in the country now comprised in the Province of Upper Canada, and
to provide for the future solemnization of marriage within the same. It was further enacted that the contracting
parties which do not live with eighteen miles of any minister of the Church
of England, may apply to neighboring Justice of Peace who shall affix in some
public place a note for which he shall receive one shilling and no more. LAW FURTHER EXTENDED
In 1798 another Act provided that
ministers of the Church of Scotland or Lutherans, or Calvinists could perform
the ceremony, if one of the contracting parties had, been a member of that
church for at least six months. This
clergyman had to provide his qualification before six magistrates at Quarter
Sessions, appearing with at least seven members of his congregation, to bear
witness to the correctness of his oath. “In 1818 a further act made valid the
marriages of those who had in any way neglected to preserve the testimony of
their marriages. “in 1831 another act confirmed marriages
contracted before any Justice of the peace, magistrate commanding officer,
minister or clergyman, and at the same time it was provided that it should be
lawful for Ministers of the Church of Scotland, Lutherans,
Congregationalists, Baptists, Independents, Methodists, Mennonites, Tunders, or Maravians, to
solemnize matrimony. PUBLISHING THE BANS
Until 1814 no licenses were used. In that year, on the 31st of
May, the Government appointed five persons as issuers of marriage
licenses. The ordinary method was to
publish the banns for three successive Sundays. This notice was to be posted in some
conspicuous place, generally on the door, for there were not many churches at
that time. The young people, in their
anxiety to avoid publicity, would sometimes put the notice on the inside of
the door, while another way was to take two or three immediate friends, sworn
to secrecy, and simply hold it to the door for a few minutes each Sunday,
three Sundays in succession. The
purport of the notice was as follows, the words being subscribed by a
magistrate: “Know all men by these
presents, that A.B. is desirous of taking to wife C.D. If any one knows
any just cause why the ceremony should not be duly performed let him give
notice to Magistrate X.Z. on or before -- -- -- . MR. CARTWRIGHT’S
CIRCULAR Richard Cartwright was appointed a member
of the First Legislative council of Upper Canada and took an active part in
its proceedings. He appears to have
taken an active interest in having the marriage law amended and prepared a
report which has already been alluded to in this paper. It was as follows. We have not seen it published until in the
paper now being referred to. We give
it verbatim; “Report on the subject of marriages and
the state of the Church of England in the province of Upper Canada, humbly
submitted to His Excellency Governor Simcoe. “The country now Upper Canada was not
settled or cultivated in any part except the settlement of Detroit, till the
year 1784, when the several Provincial corps doing duty in the province of
Quebec were reduced, and, together with many Loyalists from New York,
established in different parts of this province, chiefly along the River St.
Lawrence, and the Bay of Quinte. In
the meanwhile, from the year 1777 many families of the Loyalists belonging to
Butler’s Rangers, the Royal Yorkers, Indian Department and other corps doing
duty at the upper posts had from time to time come into the country, and many
young women of these families were contracted in marriage, which, there being
no clergyman at the posts, nor in the whole country between them and
Montreal. The practice in such cases
usually was to go before the officer commanding the post, who publicly read
to the parties the Matrimonial service in the Book of Common Prayer, using
the ring and observing the other forms there prescribed, or if he declined
to, as was sometimes the case, it was done by the adjutants of the
regiment. After the settlements were
formed in 1784, the justices of the Peace used to perform the marriage
ceremony till the establishment of clergy men in the country, when the
practice adopted only from necessity hath been discontinued in the districts
where clergymen reside. NOT BAD IN
MIDLAND DISTRICT “The two lower districts have each of them
a Protestant clergyman since 1786; it
is but a few months since this (Nassau or Howe) district hath been provided
with one; and the western district, in
which the settlement of Detroit is included, is to this day destitute of that
useful and respectable order of men;
yet the town of Detroit is and has been since the conquest of Canada
inhabited for the most part by Traders of the Protestant religion who reside
there with their families, and among whom many intermarriages have taken
place, which formerly were solemnized by the Commanding Officer, or some
other layman occasionally appointed by the inhabitants for reading prayers to
them on Sundays, but of late more commonly by the magistrates, since
magistrates have been appointed for that district. MARRIAGES NOT VALID
From these circumstances it has happened
that the marriages of the generality of the inhabitants of Upper Canada are
not valid in law, and that their children must stricto
jure be considered as illegitimate and consequently not entitled to inherit
their property. Indeed this must have
been the case, in my opinion, had the marriage ceremony been performed even
by a regular clergyman, and with due observance of all the forms prescribed
by the laws of England. For the clause
in the act of the 14th year of His Present Majesty for regulating
the Government of Quebec, which declares “that in all cases of controversy
relative of property and civil rights, resort shall be had to the laws of
Canada as the rule for the decision of the same,” appears to me to invalidate all marriages
not solemnized according to the rites of the Church of Rome, so far as these
marriages are concerned as giving away title to property. Such being the case, it is obvious that it
requires the interposition of the Legislature as well, to settle what is past
as to provide some regulations for the future, in framing of which it should
be considered that good policy requires that in a new country at least,
matrimonial connections should be made as easy as may be consistent with the
importance of such engagements. PROPOSES AMENDMENTS
“Having pledged myself to bring this
business forward early in the next session.
I am led to hope that your Excellency will make such representations
to His Majesty’s ministers as will induce them to consent to such
arrangements respecting this business as the circumstances of the country may
render expedient. Measures for this
purpose having been postponed only because they might be thought to interfere
with their views respecting the Clergy of the Establishment. Of this church, I am myself a member and am
sorry to say that the state of it in this province is not very flattering. A very small proportion of the inhabitants
of Upper Canada have been educated in
this persuasion and emigrants to be, expected from the U.S. will for
the most part be sectaries or dissenters;
and nothing prevents the teachers of
this class from being proportionately numerous, but the inability of
the people at present to provide for their support. PROVISIONS OF
THE DISTRICTS In the Eastern district the most populous
part of the province, there is no church clergyman. They have a Presbyterian minister (Rev. Mr.
Bethune, of Williamsville), formerly Chaplain of the 84th
Regiment, who receives from the Government
£50 per annum. They have also a Lutheran minister who is
supported by his congregation, and the
Roman Catholic priest, settled at St. Regis, occasionally officiates
for the Scots Highlanders, settled in the lower parts of the District, who
are very numerous, and all Catholics.
There are also many Dutch Calvinists in this part of the province who
have made several attempts to get a teacher of their own sect, but hitherto
without success. In the Midland district, where the
members of the church are more numerous than in any other part of the
province, there are two church clergymen (Rev. John Langhorn, Ernestown; Rev.
John Stuart, Kingston); who are allowed £100 sterling per annum each by the
Government, and £50 each by the Society for the Propogation
of the gospel. There are here also
some itinerant Methodist preachers, the followers of whom are numerous. And many of the inhabitants of the greatest
property are Dutch Calvinists, who have for some time past been using their
endeavors to get a minister of their own sect among them. “In the Home District there is one
clergyman who hath been settled here since the month of July last. The Scots Presbyterians who are pretty
numerous here, and to which sect the most respectable part of the inhabitants
belong, have built a Meeting House, and raised a subscription for a Minister
of their own, who is expected shortly among them. There are here also many Methodist and
Dutch Calvinists. In the Western District,
there are no other clergy than those of the Church of Rome. The Protestant inhabitants here are
principally Presbyterians. “From this statement Your Excellency will
be able to draw the proper conclusions;
and to judge how far the establishing of the Hierarchy of the Church
of England in this province may be proper and expedient. “I have the honor to be, with the most
profound respect, your Excellency’s most humble servant, RICHARD
CARTWRIGHT Juror Newark,
October 12 1792 |
