Category for Gretna Green type places?

+4 votes
375 views
I'm not sure what to call what I'm looking for but I have an ancestor who married four times. I'm working on his profile and two of the times he married were at places out of state in "Gretna Green" type marriage mill places. Las Vegas or Wendover, NV are examples of places like this in the US. These are places where the rules were simpler or more relaxed so people come from all around to get "quickie" or spur-of-the-moment weddings.

Anyway, I'm wondering if there is a category for these types of places, and if so, what is the category called? The second of the two places my ancestor did this is a place where a number of other relatives also married so I'm thinking it should be added to a list of these types of places in the US.
in Policy and Style by Beverly Diaz G2G6 Mach 4 (41.9k points)
recategorized by Ellen Smith
People in my family (from Pittsburgh in South Western Pennsylvania) went to Wheeling West Virginia, or Winchester Virginia, or a few went to Maryland.
It seems to me that this would be a good topic for a free-space page. That is: a page that provides a catalog of places that were popular wedding destinations of the past (or more recently, for that matter) due to particular circumstances. Each of these places has a slightly different story that could be documented on this page. Circumstances include (but are not limited to) absence of a minimum marriage age and absence of a waiting period after getting a marriage license, and proximity to a big city in a nearby jurisdiction would increase a place's popularity.

The page I envision would benefit from multiple contributors (because no one of us is likely to know all of the stories...) and should be linked to and from categories (and free-space pages) for the towns mentioned. After some effort to document the stories of these places, it might become easier to figure out how they could be categorized tastefully.

When I see a couple who married across the state line from their home, I wonder about the circumstances, and a page like this might help with research.

PS - I think the mere presence of a local quick-wedding service industry in towns like Reno, Nevada, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, can make these towns popular wedding sites even if there are no longer any legal advantages to getting married there.
Gretna, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana was another of those places according to newspaper articles, etc.
I  just ran across this NYGBS blog post about the original Gretna Green in Scotland, and "Gretna Greens" in general:

https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/blog/gretna-green-wedding-destinations-new-york

2 Answers

+4 votes
 
Best answer
Just use the location name of the place where the marriage took place. If it wasn't a church, we don't categorize anyone as "married by a JP" or "married on a beach," or such things. So you'd use [[Category:Las Vegas, Nevada]] and fill in the data field and cite a record to support it.
by Natalie Trott G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
selected by Susan Laursen
+7 votes
On a similar note, I have a two couples in my trees who married twice.

One for religious reasons, one civil wedding then a few years later a church wedding.

The other,  a convential wedding, then over a decade later in life both a renewal of vows and a religious shift.

In each case both mariages of each couple are listed in the government records.

The only thing I can think of a present is to state the marriages on the profile and explain in research notes.

Or is there another way?
by NG Hill G2G6 Mach 8 (87.9k points)

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