Note 518 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
Reading edition
Under date of Sept. 2, 1674, the Suffolk Files contain a petition from a husband praying that his wife—for adultery banished to Rhode Island the preceding year—might "be allowed to return in peace." His petition was denied, although he avers that through his wife's absence "his life is most uncomfortabell," having "no Relation at all that liveth with him and it being low with him and not abell to ... pay Rent in seuerall places & not willing to Remaine away from the things of god ... to goe to liue in a place and with such as he never delighted in."—MSS. Early Court Files of Suffolk, No. 1325.