maid stood up together upon the "women's side," and declared before God, and the assem bled Society, their intention of taking each other as husband and wife. After the simple Quaker fashion, the groom repeated the formula -- "I, John Todd, do take thee Dorothea Payne to be my wedded wife, and promise, through divine assistance, to be unto thee a loving husband, until separated by death." The bride in fainter tones echoed the vow, and then the certificate of marriage was read and the register signed by a num- ber of witnesses including John, James, Mary, and Alice Todd, relatives of the bridegroom, John and Mary Payne, the bride's father and mother, together with her sisters Lucy, Anna, and Mary Payne, and sixty others. It was the custom for all who signed the marriage register to be entertained later at dinner and afterward at supper at the house of the bride's parents, and we may be sure that John Payne and his wife, who had brought their Virginia notions of hospitality with them to Philadelphia, did not fail to set forth a bountiful feast in honor of their daughter's wedding. -33- |