Why a U.S. Marriage?

On 31 May 1847, Nicholas Wehner and his wife-to-be, Clara, docked in Baltimore, after immigrating from Germany. The following year his brother Lorenz, presumably with his future wife, Flora, also immigrated to the U.S. from Germany. Both couples married soon after arrival, Nicholas and Clara on 26 Dec 1847 and Lorenz and Flora on 14 Sep 1848. But why did they wait until they were in the U.S. to wed? Perhaps now we know.

Ship’s passenger list with ”Nicolaus” Wehner (“Bridegroom,” not “husband”) and Clara Schneider (maiden name).

In the first half of the 1800s, German marriage regulations (Ehe-Regularien) increased. In hopes of reducing the number of impoverished children, who might require public support, town councils and county courts began basing the right to marry on financial status. It did not work. Numbers of illegitimate births increased drastically. But until they were relaxed in the second half of the 1800s, the regulations made things difficult for couples hoping to wed. In the absence of income or prospects of income, permission to marry was often refused. This made marriage particularly difficult for younger sons of farmers since the oldest brother usually inherited the family farm. Age was also an issue. Young men, those below age 25 with questionable income prospects, were often refused a marriage permit.

Nicholas and Lorenz were the youngest children in the farm family of Johann Georg Wehner and Flora Müller. There were two older sons, Caspar (who died well before his father) and Valentin, who lived until 20 Feb 1900 and likely inherited the farm and perhaps everything else. Nicholas was only 22 years old when he immigrated to the U.S. and when he married in Scott Co, Missouri. At that age and without prospect of significant inheritance, marriage could have been impossible in Germany.