[419] Ibid., VII, 253.
[420] Plym. Col. Rec., XI, 13, 190; cf. Palfrey, Hist. of New England, II, 20; and Brigham, Plym. Col. Laws, 44, 272.
[421] Plym. Col. Rec., XI, 189,190; cf. ibid., 52, 53. Records of births, deaths, and marriages are printed ibid., VIII. The record of marriages was sometimes included in the proceedings of the general court: ibid., I.
[422] In the edition of the laws, 1660, notice is to be placed "upon some post of their Meeting-house door": Whitmore, Col. Laws of Mass. (1660-72), 51, 52: cf. ibid. (1672-86), 101.
[423] Mass. Col. Rec., I, 275; Whitmore, Col. Laws of Mass. (1660-72), 51, 52; ibid. (1672-86), 101.
The meeting-house on Sunday or lecture-day was a general clearing-house for news and gossip; and not the least inviting topics were supplied by the marriage notices. "There they read, as from an old newspaper, of an intention of marriage between persons known to everybody; and although the town clerk had stood up in the congregation and screamed it at the top of his voice, it was an endless subject of comment, especially if the woman had as publicly renounced the intention—as women sometimes did."—Bliss, Colonial Times on Buzzard's Bay, 77, 78.
[424] Edes, in Mem. Hist. Bost., II, 315, and n. 2.
[425] For instance, on May 22, 1651, such a petition from Mary Longe was allowed, provided "she be published according to law": Mass. Col. Rec., III, 232. Sept. 7, 1643, "Jacob Sheath & Margaret Webbe are permitted to joyne in marriage, though but twice published": ibid., II, 46. May 30, 1644, "without further publishment," Robert Parke "hath libertye to proceed in marriage with Alice Tompson": ibid., III, 3.
[426] Mass. Col. Rec., II, 15; IV, Part I, 290; cf. ibid., I, 275, 276; and Whitmore, Col. Laws of Mass. (1660-72), 188; ibid. (1672-86), 130. But town clerks continued to act: Salem Town Rec., 148. The office of "Clark of the writts" seems to have been created in 1641, primarily to issue summons and attachments: Mass. Col. Rec., I, 344, 345. See also "Province Laws of New Hampshire," in Coll. of New Hamp. Hist. Soc., VIII, 31. Originally clerks of the writs were appointed by the general court; but later it was ordered that they should be licensed by the shire court or court of assistants. Those presented for license were first nominated in town-meeting: Mass. Col. Rec., II, 188; Dorchester Town Rec., 116; Salem Town Rec., 148, 195; Boston Town Rec. (1660-1701), 100, 103, 130, 197. Cf. Howard, Local Const. Hist., I, 90, 91, 331.
[427] Whitmore, Col. Laws of Mass. (1660-72), 188; ibid. (1672-86), 130; Mass. Col. Rec., II, 59.