We tend to imagine the past as rigid—especially when it comes to marriage. In eighteenth-century New England, marriage was meant to be permanent, governed by law, church, and community. But real lives didn’t always follow those rules.
5th great grandmother Alice Hazen of Norwich, Connecticut left behind a story that shows just how complicated things could become—and, importantly, how people explained those complications in their own words.
Ye Neglect of ye Marriage Covenant
Alice first married John Rouse around 1738 and began raising a family.… Read the rest