Note 488 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
Reading edition
Mass. Col. Rec., V, 4; Shirley, Early Jurisprudence of New Hamp., 310, 311. The harboring of "strangers"—and "stranger" might be a father, daughter, or son from a neighboring town—gave the good people of the colonies a great deal of trouble. See the illustrations in Weeden, Ecc. and Soc. Hist. of N. E., I, 272; and Howard, Local Const. Hist., I, 87, 88, where the town records are cited.