The Church of England was the established church in Virginia until the Revolution and so the Anglican rules on Affinity applied. This set out a table outlining who a person might marry. As I recall, the Table of Affinity prohibited the kind of marriage mentioned and consequently I doubt that such marriages were at all common. The Table was not included in the subsequent Episcopal Prayer Book.


Ian Welch, Canberra

----- Original Message -----
From: Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009 5:13
Subject: [VA-HIST] Marriage law & Incest (yikes!)
To: [log in to unmask]

> I was surprised to read in Annette Gordon-Reed's book on the 
> Hemingses that
> in the early 19th century Virginia outlawed marriage between a 
> man and his
> deceased wife's sister, on the grounds that marrying a sister-in-
> law was
> incest by affinity (not by blood). I don't know the text of the 
> law, but
> presumably the reverse was also true: a widow could not marry her
> brother-in-law. It's my impression that in the earlier days such 
> marriageswere relatively common in Virginia. My question for the 
> lawyers on the list
> is: does anyone know when Virginia repealed this ban – or is it 
> still on the
> books? Would Virginia have recognized such a marriage if it had been
> solemnized in another state or country? 
> 
> Henry Wiencek
> 
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(Dr) Ian Welch, Australian National University, Canberra



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