8/10/2019 Haven-Lockhart Marriage Bond
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O U R P A S T
By C. C. BISHOP
n
n
-
e
people and m o u rn e d by all. T he
e
ncxt
lilllc
met
Mr
-
C h o a t e
w as
j
i-|
u
.
le Fourth of
J u l y - H e p l a y e d
s I
t n o vlohn for thc;
y
u n
& >
e
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)
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