8/10/2019 Haven-Lockhart Marriage Bond

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O U R P A S T

By C. C. BISHOP

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people and m o u rn e d by all. T he

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met

Mr

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C h o a t e

w as

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le Fourth of

J u l y - H e p l a y e d

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t n o vlohn for thc;

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l ' l e to

The marriage

ceremonies

that

have been used in the past are

of interest to most people for the

s imple reason that most people

are e i ther marr ied o r they plan

to m arr y som etim e.

T he early Texans w en t t h r o u g h

some very great embarassments

concern ing marriage. A c c o r d i n g

to the agreement of the person

receiving grants to establishcol-

onies in Texas , none bu t Ca tho l i c

were allowed to settle. Therefore

the religion of the land w as

that

of the Cathol ic church.

U n d e r these co nd i tions on ly the

priests were permit ted to perform

marr iage ceremonies and bury the

dead. W e f i nd few,if any, o

even Catholic services among the

Am e r i c a n colonists. It appears

that the priests were never ve ry

n umer ous . T here real ly were n o t

enough to bury the dead and mar-

ry the l iv ing . A M rs . D i l u e H a r -

ris in some rem in i scen t w r i t ing s ,

gives this account o f a fune ra l .

H a rr is b u r g , M a y ,1833. Every

th ing in H a r r i s b u r g w as d i f f e r -

ent f rom w h a t we had been accus-I

tomed

to. N o

c h u r c h ,

no

p r e a c h -

i

er, no school house or c o u r t h o u s e .

T h e y had no use for a j a i l ; c v -

e r y b o d y hone s t . We had been j

t he re but a few d a y s when a m an [

died . M y s i s t e r asked m o th e r how 1

they could b u r y the man w i t h o u t i

a h e a r s e and carriages. In the i

e v e n i n g th e f u n e r a l came . M r .

Lyt lc

w i t h

h is

ca r t

an d oxen

( t h e r e was not a d r a y or w a g o nj

in the p l a c e ) , conveyed the co rpse ;

m e n , women an d c h i l d r e n wa l k -

ing . B r o t h e r

and I

w e n t

w i th

t h e m . I d o n ' t r e m e m b e r th e man 's

n a m e . H e came to T exas f rom

N e w Y o r k , w i th th e f o u r H a r r i s

b ro the r s . A M r. Choate c on d uc t -

ed the b u r i a l . T he m an was a

-u i,in. uurmi. jne man was a

stranger in a s t r ange l a n d , but

w as n u r s e d andbur ied bv th e good

*

wai

> i

s

1 1 1 0 vl

, idance.

-

-

r p , , , . . .

I

he

above

f u n e r a l

shows the I

|

s ca rc i ty of the p r ies t s in th i s re-|

j g i o n a t t h a t t im e . N o n e b u t t h e j

al lowed to m a r r y j

.

p r i e s t s w e r e a l lowed to m a r r y

,

c o u p l e s . W h e r e

a priest was not

eIava i l ab l e the c o n t r a c t i n g p a r t i e s

[gave a legal b o n d , pledging t h e m - j

selves to have a reirular m;ir . - i : i

t

t .

e

a

e

d

e

-

e

selves to have a r e g u l a r m a r r i a g e

ceremony per fo rmed as soon as

a pr ies t

should

come in to the c om -

m u n i t y .

Strange as it may seem, on sev-

eral occasions it was so long be-

fore

a

priest arrived

that

the

w i f e would hold he r baby in her

a r m s w h i l e the ce rem on y w as

be ing per fo rmed . A t o n ew e d d in g

of

this type the coup le had two

ch i ld r en , th e f a t h e r ho ld ing o n e

and the mo the rone.

W e give you here a . copy of a

legal bond that w as used by a

couple

that

were wan t ing to m a r -

ry and did not wa i t for the priest

to a r r ive .

" K n o w all m on by these pres-

en t ,

that

w e, Eben H avens , o f

the

State of C o a h u i l a and Texas , D e

W i t t Co lony , who was born in

the State of N ew Y o r k in the year

of

1805, and Drus i l l a Lockhar t of

the State o f C o a h u i l a and Texas,

and born in the State o f V i r g i n -

ia, in the year 1802, are held

an d f i r m l y b o u n d to the g o v e r n o r

of

th e

State

of

C o a h u i l a

and Tex-

as, or his successor in o f f ice , in

the p en a l H um of ten t h o u s a n d

d o l l a r s , l a w f u l money of the Un-

i ted

States

o f

Mox ioo ,

for the

pay-

m e n t o f wh ic h , well and t r u l y be

made , we , and each of us, b ind

ourse lves , our h e i r s , j o i n t l y an d

severally and

f i r m l y

by these pres-

ents . T he condi t ion of the above

obligation I s such tha t hereas, the

above named Eben Havens and

Drusi l la Lockhar t , having mutu-

ally agreed to

enter

in to the

solemn bonds of ma t r imony , and

there being as yet no chu rch or

legally es tab lished ecclesiastical

au thor i ty in this colony, by wh ich

means mat r imony may be legally

solemnized, and therefore it is un-

derstood, that as soon as the said

authori ty is legally established ,

the said parties agree to be legal-

ly married, and if e i ther should

fa i l o r refuse to comply ,the above

obligation to be in ful l force

against the party so failing or

refusing as aforesaid, otherwise

if they comply with the above

condi t ion , the above condit ion to

be forever null and

void.

Given under my hand at the

town of Gonzales on the day

of February,1881.

Eben Haven

(Seal)

Drusille 'Lockhart (Seal)