Re: Prenuptial Agreements in Colonial America

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: There's the Sandy we all know and love...we've missed you!!!!!!

: Diana S.


: : A woman with property of her own, either inherited from her father or a former husband or earned while she as a fem sole, could protect that property by signing a prenuptial agreement before she fell under the rules of coverture.  Only a small minority of colonial women took advantage of this procedure, however, and most were widows.  Their insistence on a prenuptial contract did not necessarily indicate distrust or a lack of affection.  Many simply wished to protect the interests of existing children.  Others, particularly those with experience in the pitfalls of marital financial relations, felt it prudent not to let love or physical attraction keep them from ensuring their economic security.  

: : One of these women was Margaret Preston of Patuxent River, Maryland, who made such an agreement with William Berry on January 8, 1699.

: : In this agreement, Margaret and William “have fully and perfectly concluded and agreed, that the said Margaret doth reserve for her own proper use and behoof, before she doth engage herself in marriage to the said William Berry...

: : - the value of one hundred pounds sterling,
: : - plate, to the value and worth of forty pounds sterling,
: : - the little Negro girl called Sarah, born in Richard Preston’s house, valued to ten pounds sterling.  If the said girl should die, the said William Berry [agrees] to make the same good to the said Margaret by another Negro or the value,
: : - a good mare to ride on, value seven pound sterling,
: : - a chamber or room to be well furnished with bedding and furniture, with other household stuff to the value of forty-three pounds sterling.

: : The said William Berry binds himself…to the true performance of all and every [one] of the above mentioned articles to the full value as is aforementioned, whensoever the said Margaret Preston shall make demand of the same for her own proper use.” 

: : Best wishes,
: : Goody Sandy

: : 
: : Source: “Women’s Voices, Women’s Lives.  Documents in Early American History” edited by Carol Berkin and Leslie  Horowitz


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