Many years ao I heard Bob Clay from the LVA give a talk on this subject. He 
said that marriage to a deceased spouse's sibling did not happen in VA, and 
it was one reason why some couples from VA were married in NC. I have also 
read that Thomas Harris Campbell, a legislator from Nottoway County, 
introduced a motion to have the law repealed so that his father, Dr. 
Archibald A. Campbell, could marry his deceased wife's sister Martha Epes. 
It passed, and they were married in Sept. 1850.

Ann Avery Hunter
Winston-Salem, NC


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Henry Wiencek" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 3:04 PM
Subject: [VA-HIST] Marriage law & Incest (yikes!)


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 marriages
were 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is: does anyone know when Virginia repealed this ban - or is it still on the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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