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| Blacksmiths could preside over marriages in Scotland. |
Scottish laws are different to English laws and in 1753 England changed their law on marriage so that if you were under 21 you needed your parents' permission. Scotland didn't change their laws, so boys aged 14 and girls aged 12 could be married there. All that was needed was a tradesman and two witnesses - so many were married by the local blacksmith, for example. David Lang and his son Simon, both blacksmiths, probably married more couples than anybody else and their records contain 10,478 marriages conducted between 1785 and 1895. Of these, only 156 were local couples - the rest were elopers! It is these 10,000+ records that have been put online.
Gretna Green was on the stagecoach route - it was the first stop in Scotland from England, so it became the place that young lovers would dash off to in order to marry if their parents didn't approve.
Elopement to Gretna Green and Scotland mostly occurred between 1753 and 1857. In 1857 Scottish law changed so one of the people being married had to live in Scotland for three weeks. Although there are several record sets, this largest and oldest set of records for Gretna Green were put online in 2009 by Ancestry.co.uk. If you do find any of your ancestors were married in Gretna Green, then you are probably hot on the chase of a family scandal!
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