Note 399 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
Reading edition
During the Andros period Rev. Charles Morton—who was installed as pastor of the church in Charlestown, Nov. 5, 1686—began to solemnize marriages. He was probably the first Congregational minister in New England who did so. See Edes, Mem. Hist. of Boston, II, 315.