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Born in 1899 in Colorado, he agreed to marry Rosana in 1922, but married Ursilita Bedan in 1924. They had one child. In 1924 Amarante and Rosana moved to New Mexico and he changed his name to Burt Holmes. In the 1930 census he was described as married to Bertha and working as a mechanic in a garage. Amarante and Ursilita were divorced March 22, 1937. For reasons not fully explained, Amarante changed his name to Burt Holmes after moving to New Mexico. The 1950 census lists his occupation as Snapper Foreman and married to Martha. He died in 1964.
Martha Othelia Holmes Wilkerson
Born 23 Dec 1915, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. She and Burt engaged in a common law marriage in Texas 1937. According to her obituary, she and Burt worked on the west coast during WWII. Martha was a welder and later worked at White Sands Missile range. The 1950 census lists her and Burt living together as a married couple in Organ, New Mexico. She married a man named Woolley in 1970. She died 21 Apr 2004, in Carlsbad New Mexico.
Obituary, Martha Woolley, Carlsbad Current-Argus, April 24th, 2004.
According to New Mexico (NMSA 40-1-1)
"Marriage is contemplated by the law as a civil contract, for which the consent of the contracting parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential."
"The essence of the contract of marriage is the consent of the parties, as in the case of any other contract; and, whenever there is present. perfect consent to be husband and wife, the contract of marriage is completed."- Justice Mitchell, Hulett V. Carey, Minnesota Supreme Court, 1896.
A marriage “allows two people to find a life that could not be found alone, for a marriage becomes greater than just the two persons.” (Justice Kennedy, Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. (2015))
In New Mexico: Ch. 40, art. 1 NMSA 1978
In New Mexico: 40-1-6. Restrictions on marriage of minors.
A. The county clerk shall not issue a marriage license to an unemancipated person sixteen or seventeen years of age, and no person authorized by the laws of this state to solemnize marriages shall knowingly unite in marriage any person sixteen or seventeen years of age, unless the minor first receives the written consent of each of the minor's living parents as shown on the minor's certificate of birth, or the district court has authorized the marriage of such person upon request of a parent or legal guardian of the person for good cause shown, and a certified copy of the judicial authorization is filed with the county clerk.
People who are the same gender
"On May 15, 2008 the California Supreme Court ruled that provisions in the state’s marriage statutes disallowing same-sex marriages violate the California Constitution...The court ruled that the statutory language “limiting the designation of marriage to a union ‘between a man and a woman’ is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute, and that the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples.” (In re Marriage Cases, No. S147999 (Cal. May 15, 2008), available at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S147999.PDF)."
"Blood tests required by statutes vary from state to state, but the most commonly required ones are for syphilis, sickle cell anemia, infectious or genetic diseases, rh compatibility, or tuberculosis." (Greenfield, 7)
New Mexico eliminated the requirement for pre-marital blood tests on June 14, 2013.
Poster from the Library of Congress https://lccn.loc.gov/98518378
You cannot marry in New Mexico if:
Bigamy consists of knowingly entering into a marriage by or with a person who has previously contracted one or more marriages which have not been dissolved by death, divorce or annulment. Both parties may be principals.
Whoever commits bigamy is guilty of a fourth degree felony.
Morrill Act (1862).
This act, titled An Act to punish and prevent the Practice of Polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other Places, and disapproving and annulling certain Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, was passed to prevent people from claiming multiple spouses.
"The Edmunds Act of 1882 made polygamy a felony and took away the right to vote, hold office, or serve on a jury from anyone engaged in a polygamous relationship." -Response to Anti-Polygamy Legislation
Current reasons for marriage include a desire to formalize a relationship, cultural expectations, religious requirements, and being able to make medical or financial decisions. In New Mexico an individual can be designated to make these decisions for another with a living will.
NMSA 24-7A Uniform Health-Care Decisions
In the past, marriage had significant impact on the life and rights of women. Having a relationship recognized or not recognized was important. A recognized marriage would mean legitimate children, inheritance, access to pensions, and social standing.
Marriage could remove certain freedoms. Spanish law allowed women to keep property owned before marriage, but many U.S. states followed a common law where property of the wife transferred to the husband upon marriage. Children were considered property of the husband.
In 1884 New Mexico passed the Married Woman's Act which stated that a married woman's property before marriage remained hers. This law also allowed married women to enter contracts without the consent of her husband.
Prior to September 1922, a married woman in the U.S. could lose her citizenship if she married someone who was the citizen of a different country. It wasn't until 1936, that "women who lost U.S. citizenship by marriage between 1907 and 1922 and whose marriage had terminated through death or divorce" could "resume her citizenship upon taking the oath of allegiance." (NARA)
On September 22, 1922, Congress passed the Married Women's Act. This law gave each woman a nationality distinct from her husband.
In re GABALDON'S ESTATE. GABALDON vs. GABALDON, 1934
"We think that irregular marriage is now, and has been in the past, as little practiced in New Mexico as elsewhere. In 1860 the non-Catholic population was inconsiderable. The edicts of the church were deemed highly binding upon conscience. Marriage was generally regarded as a sacrament. The Act of 1860 reflects the view that the law of the church in that regard was the law of the state. No doubt, with the influx of men from the east, irregular alliances were formed with native women, some of them perhaps marriages according to the common law. This situation was rather effectively cleared up by the Edmonds-Tucker Act (USCA title 18, § 519), in force here from 1887 until statehood. While it did not itself effect the invalidity of any marriage or attempted marriage, it was in fact rigorously enforced, resulting in {*397} the postponed celebration of many, and in discouraging future alliances except according to the forms of law."
Dubler, A. R. (1998). Governing Through Contract: Common Law Marriage in the Nineteenth Century. The Yale Law Journal, 107(6), 1885–1920. https://doi.org/10.2307/797340
Davis, Jennifer. Marriage Equality in the US, https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2021/06/marriage-equality-in-the-us/
Greenfield, Gary E., Author, Susan E Watkins, and U.S.. Global Legal Research Directorate Law Library Of Congress. Doing Research in Current Marriage and Divorce Law: Guide and Selective Annotated Bibliography. [Washington, D.C.: The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Directorate, 1991] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021699839/.
Koegel, Otto E. Common law marriage and its development in the United States, John Byrne & Company, Washington, 1922.
May, Geoffery, Marriage laws and decisions in the United States, a manual, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1929.
Robinson, G. (2008) United States: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Held Unconstitutional in California. [Web Page] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2008-05-02/united-states-same-sex-marriage-ban-held-unconstitutional-in-california/.
Saether, Steinar A. Bourbon Absolutism and Marriage Reform in Late Colonial Spanish America. The Americas, Vol. 59, No. 4, Cambridge University Press, April 2003.