That is so wierd.
Used to be the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) had a rule that your honored ancestor, a Revolutionary War veteran, had to have been married for any of his or her offspring to be qualified for membership.
Darned near put them out of business for a while after they'd implemented that rule ~ which they'd done only to keep out African-American applicants.
Seems that it wasn't all that common for our honored ancestors of the era of our founders to have "real marriages". Jumping the Broom was pretty much the name of the game.
If you were born outside the country, your father was not a citizen and you were illegitimate, then the rules were different. That's all people are saying, although the poster you responded to perhaps did shortcut the whole explanation.
Seems that it wasn't all that common for our honored ancestors of the era of our founders to have "real marriages".
It that you Dr. Bellesiles?
Jumping the Broom was pretty much the name of the game.
Jumping the Broom was an African slave thing.
In those days marriages were not recorded, nor even "sanctioned" by the state, but rather by the Church. So you have to check church records, or in some cases family bibles. Births too were not recorded by the state, but often were in the family Bible.