
The British North America Act split up jurisdiction over marriage in Canada: The federal government was handed control over marriage and divorce, while provinces were left to handle ceremonies as well as marital property rights, post divorce and remarriage. Officials were wary of the situation playing out in the United States, where marriage and divorce were left entirely up to individual states, resulting in a piecemeal system that allowed bickering couples to cross state lines in pursuit of quickie splits. After Confederation, Canadian newspapers would often set this country apart from the United States by invoking the “morality” of Canadian families, mocking the lax divorce laws of our supposedly more promiscuous neighbours to the south.
Clipped from
- The Leader-Post,
- 11 Aug 1919, Mon,
- Page 14
“People moved in smaller circles in those days and the range of marriage partners was less extensive,” legal historian Philip Girard said, explaining why a man might want to marry his dead wife’s sister. “Many people thought that this was actually the ideal situation: The deceased wife’s sister would be familiar with the family and she’d already be an aunt of the children.” But it was a touchy idea both for Anglican lawmakers, who considered the setup incestuous, and proto-feminists, who feared it might “complicate and sexualize family relationships, that even when his wife was alive, the husband might already be looking at the sister as a potential replacement,” Girard said. Nonetheless, a Quebec MP appealed to have the laws reformed and, in 1882, husbands whose wives had died were permitted to wed their wives’ sisters. Not surprisingly, the prospect of women marrying their deceased husbands’ brothers was a bridge too far: That remained illegal until 1923.
Clipped from
- The Ottawa Citizen,
- 30 Apr 1920, Fri,
- Page 10
Clipped from
- Ottawa Daily Citizen,
- 15 Mar 1882, Wed,
- Page 3
Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte
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Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun Screamin’ Mamas (USA) and The Sherbrooke Record
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Sixteen Wives– What Do You Get? Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt
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I’m so Sick of that Same Old Love — Bigamous Relations in Lanark County
James Watson– Bigamy and Shoes
A Smith’s Falls “Frustrated Young Love’s Dream” Purdy vs Lenahan
She Came Back! A Ghost Divorce Story
One Night in Almonte or Was it Carleton Place?
Bigamists? How About the Much Married Woman? One for the Murdoch Mystery Files
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The Wedding of Stanley Alexander Jackson and Margaret Elizabeth Forbes
The Thomas Alfred Code Journal – Letters-Part 15- Code Family– Love and Runaway Marriages
Odd Ironic Wedding Stories –Or it was Almost Lonely Valley
Marriage Records Lanark County, Ontario, Canada– Names Names Names
Till Death Do Us Part in Lanark County?
Taming of the Beckwith Shrew?
A Smith’s Falls “Frustrated Young Love’s Dream” Purdy vs Lenahan
Going to the Chapel? Hold on– Not so Fast!
Another Episode in Spinsterdom–The Armour Sisters of Perth
She Came Back! A Ghost Divorce Story
Slander You Say in Hopetown? Divorce in Rosetta?
Go Ask Alice – The Saga of a Personal Ad Divorce
Bigamy–The Story of Ken and Anne and Debby and Cathy and…