Marriage Certificate

The Marriage certificate reads as follows:

John Sorell of Monckton, Vermont and Minnie M. Howe of Monckton, Vermont were united in the bonds of MARRIAGE at Crown Point, Essex Co., New York on the thirteenth day of October in the year of our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-four comfortably to the ordinance of God and the Laws of the State.[1]

According to the Town Books at the Crown Point town clerk’s office-John Sorell’s parents are listed as Mary LaRose and John Sorell and he is 28 years of age.  The only birth record that I could find for a John Sorell born to parents with the above names was born 5 Oct 1862 in Hinesburg, Vermont, [2] which would have made him 32 years old at the time of their marriage.

Minnie M. Howe is listed as age 17, and parents are Ida Sartwell and John Howe.[3] 

Minnie Miola Howe was born in Bridport, Vermont 12 Nov 1878, [4] which would have make her just shy of her 16^th birthday. It would appear that they both lied about their age. It was apparently very common in those days to marry young girls to much older established men.

At the moment I can’t prove anything to determine whether this is the John Sorell that married my great grandmother, Minnie. It is a possibility as Monckton, Vermont is not far from Hinesburg or Bridport and they are all in Addison County, Vermont.

---

[1] Copy in my possession

[2] Vital Records, Hinesburg, Addison Co., Vt. Book 1, p. 29

[3] Vital Records, Crown Point, Essex Co., N.Y. marriage record in my possession

[4] Vital Records, Bridport, Addison Co., VT. Birth records, p. 7