WEDDING: What a Smock Wedding means......


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Contributed by BLTDEFORD@aol.com
Date: 28 March 2000
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I recently came across the following genealogical tidbit  from a family history book that 
had come into my  possession and thought I would share it with the list.  The source will 
follow the text. 
 

  THE SMOCK WEDDING
 
One of the more unusual customs that came to America was the  SMOCK WEDDING. Under English 
common law if a widow remarried and brought any of her late husband’s property to the 
marriage, the new husband became liable for any and all the debts of the previous husband.
Women owned nothing in their own right, and this included their clothing. So it became the 
custom for indebted widows to get married in their underwear, or smocks.

The SMOCK WEDDING was tripple-fold. It was a bankruptcy proceeding; it was a marriage 
ceremony; it was an investiture because the bride then got a new wardrobe from her new 
husband.
 
In theory the ceremony was held for all to see, on a public highway. But in  practice many 
smock weddings were indoors.
 
When Major Moses JOY married Widow Hannah WARD of Newfame, Vermont, in 1789, she was stark 
naked. She was in a closet, her hand extended through a hole cut in the door. Then she put 
on a fine set of clothes and emerged from her closet in style, to the general admiration of 
the assembled
 
Source: Ancestors and Descendants of LEWIS ROSS FREEMAN with related families 
        By Patty Barthell Myers  Penobscot Press 1995.  Page 626
	Florence (Patty) B. Myers may be reached at 15 Campden Circle, San Antonio,
	TX 78218.