First Same-Sex Marriage in US, 1834

Published in the 5 April 1834 Christian Intelligencer.

It took me a few readings before I realized that the other "man" who was dressed as a "woman" was actually woman all along! She had run away from home because her father didn't approve of the marriage.  This marriage would have been performed in the Dutch Reformed Church, hardly a bastion of liberal crazy ideas. Would you like to read about how to preach a sermon in that denomination around that time?  So happens my fifth great-grandfather James Spencer Cannon (1776-1852) wrote an entire book on the subject for your edification.  

He was a professor of Metaphysics at Rutgers College and a professor of Theology and Ecclesiastical History at their seminary.  He was born on a ship in Curacoa, Dutch West Indies, because his dad was a ship captain who brought his family on his adventures.  I am sure Dad was transporting nothing but Bible tracts in that cargo hold because that is exactly what people usually did in the Golden Triangle during that era.  It paid enough for him to send several children to private school and maintain a home in New York City.

But James was orphaned at a young age, and some wealthy fella named Elias Brevoort would have met him at the school and supported him after his inheritance ran out (hence the fancy degrees and job).  Later he married Elias's daughter Catherine but there was some sort of disagreement between them.  Elias specifically wrote that James was not to touch a penny of his money in his will; his daughters were capable of managing his estate and handling their own money, thanks.

And here is a photo of James Spencer Cannon, complete with his little top hat and signature in the corner.  Snazzy.