Community Corner
'Marriages': A Snippet of Medfield History
This "Snippet of Medfield History" was written by Claire Shaw and submitted by the Medfield Historical Society...
A Snippet of Medfield History...
"Marriages"
By Claire Shaw
"In Puritan tradition, it was common for marriages to be performed by a magistrate or a person of some official commission. The first marriage in Medfield took place on April 23, 1653. Thomas Mason and Margery Partridge, ancestors of Medfield’s own Lowell Mason, were married by a Major Lusher of Dedham. Tragically, Mason and two of his sons were killed during King Philip’s War.
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The Puritan marriage was, quite literally, a civil contract and one that could be nullified should either party fail to live up to the terms of that contract. Divorces were granted in circumstances not unlike those of today: i.e., adultery, abandonment, cruelty and more.
It was only later that marriages were performed by clergy and, in 1686, the first Medfield marriage to be performed by a minister was that of Joseph Clark and Mary Wight. It appears that the Anglican custom of a religious ceremony, sanctioned by God, had supplanted that of the Puritans. And with it went the prospect of divorce."