This talk explores stories about getting hitched in a hurry in days gone by.
Eloping couples once came to Wilmington for a licenses and a quick ceremony, but just before World War I, Delaware passed more restrictive laws. A city newspaper, proclaiming that Wilmington was no longer a “mecca” for marriages, remarked that “Wilmington’s Days as a Gretna Green has gone glimmering.”
Since the “honeymoon express” was no longer able to deliver cupid’s hurried business to the City, passenger trains steamed on down the tracks, stopping at the first county seat beyond the Mason Dixon Line.
There the marrying parsons picked up the trade as the marrying parsons worked overtime completing a ceremony every 15 minutes. Quirky marrying parsons, humorous occurrences, and an international incident involving Iran, are part of this colorful narrative.
The program will also sketch out marriage practices and customs and how they have changed over the longer period.
The lecture was offered by the Friends of Old Dover in for Valentine’s Day 2017. Here is the post, they shared for that talk.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1160336937376428/
Photos: Courtesy of the Delaware Public Archives