I'm coming to the list with a question from a museum colleague that I hope
one or more of the list members can answer (he is not a member of this
list). I will forward the answers to him.

His question is :

"Is anyone familiar enough with mid 18th C laws and/or marital customs in
England or in the British colonies of North America to know if there was
a significant and consistent distinction, legally or colloquially,
between what a bride might have received from her family as a "dowry" or
as a "marriage settlement?" I find the two terms appearing almost
interchangeably in period documents, but I sense that a dowry might more
often have involved physical property rather than financial assets, and
that the opposite may have been the case with marriage settlements.

"Any clarification would be welcome."

Thank you.

Martha Katz-Hyman
Curator
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Williamsburg, VA

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