Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1908 — No More Weddings at The Soldiers’ Home. [ARTICLE]

No More Weddings at The Soldiers’ Home.

Cupid lias received a knock-out blow at the State Soldiers’ home, the board of trustees having issued an order forbidding the marriage of members of the home, either to widows at the institution or to women outside the home. The question has been discussed by the trustees for several months. Finally an order was drafted in which the provisions of the new marriage law were quoted. It was a great surprise to the veterans’ widows, when the order was read to them putting a stop to marriages there. The trustees take the ground that the marriage of an old soldier who is a member of a chari’able institution is Illegal because the law prohibits the marriage of persons not able to maintain a family. One of the marraige license questions is whether the applicant has been a member of a charitable institution within five years from the date of application. This, the trustees hold, actually prevents the marriage of the members of the home unless perjury is committed to obtain a license. The trustees say that a marriage of such persons is illegal and that they do not want persons at the institution who are illegally married, which is equivalent to being unmarried.