Lying About Age on Marriage License

[WillieGilligan]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee

Hi! I'm brand new to the forum, and I ask my question purely out of curiosity.

In helping a friend do family research, I accessed his parents' marriage RECORD on an ancestry website. This record is comprised of five sections: Application, Marriage Oath, Bond, License, and Return. The section Marriage Oath, which is signed by the county clerk, reads:

Personally appeared before me...blah, blah, blah...[names] blah, blah...and that they are each over sixteen years of age.

Sixteen is crossed out and 18 is written above it. In the section Application, their ages are given as 22 and 20. The truth is that he was 21 and she was 15.

Their parents were not with them, and there is no mention of parental approval on the record.

Neither he nor she is still living, and it doesn't really matter to my friend, but it just makes us wonder if their marriage was actually valid.

 

[tranquility]

At worst (depending on the law at the time) the marriage would be voidable and not void. Even then, the parties may be (modernly) estopped from denying the marriage.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Was the shotgun loaded?

 

[Lixim]

Kind of a really cool story. I doubt it would be void, because eventually they would have had common law marriage on their side. I have no idea though, but I bet this happened a whole lot!

 

[tranquility]

How does the fact there is no common law marriage in Tennessee other than recognizing a common law marriage from another state play into your theory?