Some of the laws seem unduly severe.  Marriage with cousins or other near relatives was frowned upon, and even the union of persons who were not considered respectable according to the community standard was unlawful.  Sewall notes his sentiments concerning the marriage of close relatives: 

“Dec. 25, 1691....  The marriage of Hana Owen with her Husband’s Brother is declar’d null by the Court of Assistants.  She commanded not to entertain him; enjoin’d to make a Confession at Braintrey before the Congregation on Lecture day, or Sabbath, pay Fees of Court, and prison, & to be dismiss’d...."[259]

“May 7, 1696.  Col.  Shrimpton marries his Son to his Wive’s Sisters daughter, Elisabeth Richardson.  All of the Council in Town were invited to the Wedding, and many others.  Only I was not spoken to.  As I was glad not to be there because the lawfullness of the intermarrying of Cousin-Germans is doubted...."[260]

VI.  Spinsters

It is a source of astonishment to a modern reader to find at what a youthful age girls of colonial days became brides.  Large numbers of women were wedded at sixteen, and if a girl remained home until her eighteenth birthday the Puritan parents began to lose hope.  There were comparatively few unmarried people, and it would seem that bachelors and spinsters were viewed with some suspicion.  The fate of an old maid was indeed a sad one; for she must spend her days in the home of her parents or of her brothers, or eke out her board by keeping a dame’s school, and if she did not present a mournful countenance the greater part of the populace was rather astonished.  Note, for instance, the tone of surprise in this comment on an eighteenth century spinster of Boston: 

“It is true, an old (or superannuated) maid in Boston is thought such a curse, as nothing can exceed it (and looked on as a dismal spectacle); yet she, by her good nature, gravity, and strict virtue, convinces all (so much as the fleering Beaus) that it is not her necessity, but her choice, that keeps her a Virgin.  She is now about thirty years (the age which they call a Thornback), yet she never disguises herself, and talks as little as she thinks of Love.  She never reads any Plays or Romances, goes to no Balls, or Dancing-match, as they do who go (to such Fairs) in order to meet with Chapmen.  Her looks, her speech, her whole behaviour, are so very chaste, that but one at Governor’s Island, where we went to be merry at roasting a hog, going to kiss her, I thought she would have blushed to death.

“Our Damsel knowing this, her conversation is generally amongst the Women ... so that I found it no easy matter to enjoy her company, for some of her time (save what was taken up in Needle-work and learning French, etc.) was spent in Religious Worship.  She knew Time was a dressing-room for Eternity, and therefore reserves most of her hours for better uses than those of the Comb, the Toilet, and the Glass."[261]

VII.  Separation and Divorce