Note 547 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

Cotton Mather, in his life of Danforth, says: "After his Contraction, according to the old usage of New England, unto the virtuous daughter of Mr. Wilson (whereat Mr. Cotton preached the sermon), he was married unto that gentle-woman, in the year 1651."—Mather, Magnalia, IV, c. 3, § 6, Vol. II, 50. Cf. Dexter, Congregationalism, 458 n. 166, who cites also a statement in Mather's Ratio, 112; likewise Winthrop, Hist. of New England, II, 382 n. 2, whose mistake has already been mentioned. Compare Earle, Customs and Fashions, 68 ff., who gives the "texts" of some of the betrothal sermons.