Frontier marriages were sometimes postponed until a minister was available
- Catherine Gauldin
- May 5
- 8 min read
William Gaulding, a Patriot of the American Revolution was born in King William County, Virginia in 1752 before his parents were formally married. He made the following statement in his 1833 pension application "I was born in the county of King William in the state of Virginia in the year 1752. My age was recorded in a book which was in the possession of my mother some years ago and I do not know what became of it. I lived in the county of Bedford in the same state of Virginia when I entered the service of the Revolution. I lived in the said county of Bedford eight years after the war ended, then moved to the county of Pittsylvania and have lived in that county ever since."
That his parents had not been formally married by a parish minister at the time of his birth was not unusual. William did say his birth was recorded, so that suggests there was a declaration of union made to the community and that they were a family unit without formal documentation. Families often moved between counties along the James River corridor, and the timing of marriages and baptisms frequently reflected mobility, minister availability, and parish boundaries, not moral irregularity. While not ideal, it fits both the geography and the social customs of the time.
By the 1760s, the Gauldings were part of the westward movement from New Kent → Hanover → Goochland → Amelia → Prince Edward. King William County lies just east of New Kent and was still within the Anglican ecclesiastical reach of St. David’s Parish and St. John’s Parish. If Samuel and Elizabeth were living or working temporarily near the King William–New Kent line, their early children could easily have been born there before the family resettled in Goochland.
Before 1750, Rev. William Douglas had not yet begun his Goochland record‑keeping. King William County’s ministers were few, and travel between parishes was difficult. Couples often postponed formal marriage until they reached a parish with a resident minister — especially one like Douglas who kept meticulous records. So, if Samuel and Elizabeth were living in King William when their first children were born, they may have waited until they were back in Goochland (where Douglas served) to have their union solemnized and recorded.
There are many examples in the Douglas Register and other Virginia parish books of couples marrying after having children together:
1. Thomas Harris & Mary Woodson, Goochland — children baptized before their 1758 marriage.
2. John Carter & Sarah Price, Hanover — first child born 2 years before marriage entry.
3. William Miller & Ann Hatcher, Goochland — marriage recorded years after first baptism.
These cases show that formal marriage often followed family formation, especially when couples moved between parishes or lacked immediate access to clergy. Goochland was the logical place to marry because it had a stable parish structure. St. James Northam had an active vestry and resident minister and because Samuel Gaulding apprenticed there from 1742 to 1749, he likely still had connections.
Douglas’s register ensured their marriage would be officially documented and a church marriage restored full legitimacy in the eyes of the Anglican establishment, so returning to Goochland for a formal ceremony made perfect sense. It was both practical and reputational. This pattern — informal union followed by later church marriage — had clear precedent in Virginia’s rural parishes of the 18th century.
Timeline of Samuel & Elizabeth’s Movements (1735–1767) - This timeline integrates migration patterns, parish boundaries, and recorded events.
1732–1735 — Birth of Samuel Gaulding (St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent), likely while his father is a tenant farmer on Eltham Plantation on the Pamunkey River.
1735 - His mother (Anne Steward) likely dies ca. 1735. The family begins moving westward.
1735–1740 — Family movement toward Goochland / King William border. Many New Kent families shift north and west toward King William County and the Pamunkey River corridor. This is the same corridor used by the Gauldings.
1740–1742 — Samuel and his father arrive in Goochland County. His father (John Gaulding) likely dies shortly before the apprenticeship. Samuel is bound out as an orphan in October 1742 to Thomas Edwards, carpenter. This places Samuel physically in Goochland by this date.
1742–1760 — Samuel reaches adulthood; older brothers in Amelia. Samuel grows up in Goochland under apprenticeship. His older brothers (Alexander, John “Matthew”) appear in Amelia County records. Samuel likely moves between Goochland and Amelia as a young adult.
1760–1764 — Samuel and Elizabeth Turner form a household (likely in King William or eastern Goochland) Evidence suggests Samuel and Elizabeth were already living together before 1764. Their sons William and Archibald appear to have been born before the formal marriage. This follows a documented pattern. This strongly implies the couple lived temporarily outside Rev. Douglas’s parish, likely in King William County or eastern Goochland. They waited because there was no resident minister in King William and it was a long distance between parish churches. Couples often postponed formal marriage until they reached a parish with a stable minister.
28 December 1764 — Formal marriage recorded by Rev. William Douglas. The marriage appears in the Douglas Register, p. 105. The Douglas Register only records marriages that were within his jurisdiction, so the ceremony occurred in St. James Northam Parish, Goochland.
1764–1767 — Two daughters born and baptized in Goochland: Elizabeth, born 28 Dec 1764, baptized 7 Apr 1765 and Kesiah, born 13 Dec 1766, baptized 8 Feb 1767. This confirms the couple was living in Goochland during these years, in fact it appears that Samuel and Elizabeth were married on the same day that their daughter Elizabeth was born. There is a notation in the Douglas Register p 105 that reads "Galden, Samuel & Elizabeth Turner married 28 December 1764. On page 198 of the Douglas Register are recorded two births for them. The text reads "Samuel Galden & Elizabeth Turner a daughter called Elizabeth born December 28, 1764, baptized April 7, 1765 p. 70"
Rev. Douglas’s register contains numerous examples of couples who lived together, had children and later had a formal church marriage recorded.
1. Thomas Harris & Mary Woodson (Goochland) – Their first child was baptized before their recorded marriage. They married later when Douglas reached their area.
2. John Carter & Sarah Price (Hanover) – Their first child was born two years before the marriage entry. The marriage was recorded only when Douglas visited that part of the parish.
3. William Miller & Ann Hatcher (Goochland) – Their children were baptized years before the marriage was formally recorded. This reflects delayed access to clery.
4. Several Huguenot families in Manakin Town - Douglas noted the baptism of children whose parent’s marriages were never recorded at all. This was common in frontier or semi‑frontier parishes.
Samuel’s apprenticeship lasted seven years
Seven years was the norm for parish‑placed apprenticeships. This was based on English Poor Law tradition, Virginia parish law and the vestry practice in Goochland, Hanover, Henrico and New Kent counties. If Samuel Gaulding was about ten years old when he was bound to Thomas Edwards then he would have been about 17-18 when his apprenticeship ended. This means he was a free, young adult skilled in carpentry and able to move between the counties. He ventured out in search of work. His brothers were in Amelia county so Samuel moved between Goochland, Amelia and King William.
By this time he had formed a household with Elizabeth Turner, so the apprenticeship timeline perfectly aligns with the idea that Samuel was mobile by the early 1750s. The Gaulding migration corridor passes directly through King William County and the family’s documented path is New Kent → King William → Hanover → Goochland → Amelia → Prince Edward. King William county was a common stopping point for tenant farmers, tradesmen, young couples forming households and families moving westward. Samuel and Elizabeth fit this pattern exactly.
By 1764 Samuel and Elizabeth returned to Goochland because it was their home parish and they wanted their union formally recognized.
Below is a list of sources to support the following conclusions:
1. Parish apprenticeships for orphaned boys in colonial Virginia typically lasted 7 years, often until age 21.
2. Samuel Gaulding would have completed his apprenticeship by 1749–1750, enabling mobility.
3. The Gaulding migration path (New Kent → King William → Goochland) is consistent with documented regional migration patterns.
4. Delayed formal marriages — with children born beforehand — were common in Goochland and King William due to limited clergy access.
5. It is historically plausible that William and Archibald Gaulding were born in King William County before their parents’ formal marriage in Goochland in 1764.
APPENDIX X — SOURCES FOR APPRENTICESHIP LENGTH, MIGRATION, AND MARRIAGE PRACTICES IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA
A. Statutory and Legal Sources (Apprenticeship Law)
Hening, William Waller, ed. The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia.
Vol. 3. Richmond: Franklin Press, 1823.
— Contains the 1705 “Act Concerning Servants and Slaves,” establishing parish authority to bind out orphaned boys until age 21.
Hening, William Waller, ed. The Statutes at Large.
Vol. 5. Richmond: Franklin Press, 1819.
— Includes the 1748 revision of the Poor Law confirming vestry authority over orphan apprenticeships.
B. Parish and County Records (Apprenticeship Practice)
Chamberlayne, C. G., ed. The Vestry Book of St. James Northam Parish, Goochland County, Virginia, 1744–1850.
Richmond: The Library Board, 1930.
— Contains multiple examples of 7‑year parish apprenticeships to carpenters, wheelwrights, and other trades.
Goochland County, Virginia. Order Books, 1730–1760.
Microfilm, Library of Virginia, Richmond.
— Records vestry‑ordered apprenticeships for orphaned boys, typically lasting until age 21.
C. Scholarly Studies on Apprenticeship and Labor
Bruce, Philip Alexander. Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century.
Vol. 2. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910.
— Discusses apprenticeship norms and the 7‑year standard inherited from English practice.
Walsh, Lorena S. “Servitude and Apprenticeship in Colonial Virginia.”
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 85 (1977): 3–34.
— Analyzes parish‑placed apprenticeships and typical term lengths.
D. Migration Patterns (New Kent → King William → Goochland)
Fischer, David Hackett, and James C. Kelly. Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement.
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000.
— Describes the east‑to‑west migration corridor used by families moving from New Kent through King William into Goochland and beyond.
McCartney, Martha W. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607–1635.
Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007.
— Provides context for settlement patterns along the Pamunkey River and the New Kent–King William–Goochland corridor.
E. Parish Geography and Ministerial Coverage
Jones, W. Macfarlane, ed. The Douglas Register: Being a Detailed Record of Births, Marriages, and Deaths Together with Other Interesting Notes, as Kept by the Rev. William Douglas from 1750 to 1797.
Richmond: J. W. Fergusson & Sons, 1928.
— Primary source for Samuel Gaulding and Elizabeth Turner’s marriage (p. 105) and their daughters’ baptisms (pp. 70, 76).
— Demonstrates Douglas’s ministerial circuit covering St. James Northam Parish (Goochland) and King William Parish (Manakin Town).
St. Peter’s Parish (New Kent County). Parish Register, 1680–1787.
Microfilm, Library of Virginia.
— Establishes early Gaulding and Steward presence in the New Kent region.
F. Delayed Marriages and Children Born Before Formal Ceremony
Jones, W. Macfarlane, ed. The Douglas Register.
— Contains numerous examples of couples whose children were born before their formal church marriage, including:
• Thomas Harris & Mary Woodson
• John Carter & Sarah Price
• William Miller & Ann Hatcher
— Demonstrates that delayed formal marriage was common in rural parishes lacking regular clergy.
Dorman, John Frederick. Virginia Parish Registers: A Study in Record‑Keeping.
Washington, D.C.: Privately published, 1965.
— Explains why rural couples often postponed formal marriage until a minister was available.
Bond, Edward L. Damned Souls in a Tobacco Colony: Religion in Seventeenth‑Century Virginia.
Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2000.
— Discusses Anglican expectations versus frontier realities; delayed marriages were socially tolerated.
G. King William County as a Transitional Settlement Area
St. John’s Parish (King William County). Vestry Book, 1707–1786.
Microfilm, Library of Virginia.
— Shows sparse ministerial coverage, explaining why couples often postponed formal marriage.
Fischer & Kelly, Bound Away.
— Identifies King William as a transitional county for families moving westward into Goochland.
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