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The Ladies' Garland
Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia
What is this article about?
Description of marriage customs in Genoa, where unions are arranged by relatives for financial gain, often without prior meeting of the couple, and facilitated by brokers who earn commissions on dowries.
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Marriage at Genoa is a matter of calculation, perhaps more so than any where else; it is generally settled between the relations, who often draw up the contract before the parties have seen one another, and it is only when every thing else is arranged and a few days previous to the marriage ceremony, that the future husband is introduced to his intended partner for life. Should he find fault with her figure or manners, he might break off the match, on condition of defraying the expenses incurred. But this is seldom the case; the principal object, that of interest, being once settled, the bride follows the portion as a matter of course, and is often scarcely minded. There are in this city marriage brokers, who have pocket books filled with the names of marriageable girls of different classes, with notes descriptive of their figures and their fortunes: these people go about endeavoring to arrange connexions; if they succeed, they get a commission of two or three per cent. upon the portion. The contents of their memorandums are often very curious.
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Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Genoa
Event Details
Marriage at Genoa is a matter of calculation, perhaps more so than any where else; it is generally settled between the relations, who often draw up the contract before the parties have seen one another, and it is only when every thing else is arranged and a few days previous to the marriage ceremony, that the future husband is introduced to his intended partner for life. Should he find fault with her figure or manners, he might break off the match, on condition of defraying the expenses incurred. But this is seldom the case; the principal object, that of interest, being once settled, the bride follows the portion as a matter of course, and is often scarcely minded. There are in this city marriage brokers, who have pocket books filled with the names of marriageable girls of different classes, with notes descriptive of their figures and their fortunes: these people go about endeavoring to arrange connexions; if they succeed, they get a commission of two or three per cent. upon the portion. The contents of their memorandums are often very curious.