One of my ancestors Richard Powell died in 1673 leaving his widow Susannah . 
. . In August 1675 Susannah was brought to court for bearing a bastard child 
of John Powell (Richard's brother).  They paid the fine, repented, and then 
married and went on to have five children.

So it did happen in the seventeenth century ... Was it after that when the 
laws forbidding this kind of marriage took place?
Hannah Powell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ian Welch" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Marriage law & Incest (yikes!)


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 is: does anyone know when Virginia repealed this ban - or is it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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