GENBOX-L Archives

Archiver > GENBOX > 2003-06 > 1056369523


From: "Paul J. Harris" <>
Subject: RE: OT [GENBOX] Spouse Sources
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 07:58:43 -0400
In-Reply-To: <000501c338d8$0d403930$5e725140@quortrup>


Hi Claire,

"Common Law Marriages" can, of course, be legally recognized in SOME states.
However, when and where did the Marriage EVENT take place? There is a
distinction between the existence of a marital relationship and a marriage
event. I believe GenBox allows that distinction, but would be very
interested in how others would consider recording such a "marriage" in
GenBox.

I'm still trying to figure out how to stop GenBox from ASSUMING that just
because two people had a child together that they were husband and wife???

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: Claire Quortrup [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 12:05 PM
To:
Subject: Re:OT [GENBOX] Spouse Sources


Paul,

This is OT but thought it might be of interest to others. In regard to
paragraph below, there is such a thing as "Common Law Marriages" which are
as Legally binding as if there were an official marriage certificate. There
are at least 10 states that still recognize these marriages and several
others that only in the last several years discontinued, but grandfathered,
the recognition of these relationships.

If you are interested in further information there is an excellent site
discussing Common Law Marriages: http://www.ct-divorce.com/Commlaw.htm

Claire

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul J. Harris" <>
I have
> a half-sister of my mother's who appears in a census record as the wife of
a
> man with whom she raised an adopted son. We find no record of their
marriage
> and have testimony from the son that he doesn't THINK they ever actually
got
> married. I have no evidence and contradictory testimony to the marriage
> event ever happening,



==== GENBOX Mailing List ====
To join this list, send an email to with the
word "subscribe" as the subject line. Then email your messages to
and they will appear on this list.

==============================
To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go
to:
http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

This thread: