Why so many SE Iowa folks marriaged in Kahoka, MO

NO SURNAMES

Posted By: Dennis Brumm (email)
Date: 3/7/2008 at 19:55:47

I found this article in a 25 year old edition of the Burlington Hawk Eye. I'd always wondered why so many people were married in Kahoka, Missouri, near World War II. It explains why:

"Tests stifled wedded bliss," an article in the Sesquicentennial special historical edition, section 2, The Hawk Eye, p. 58, July 3, 1983

In 1941, Burlington was a boom town. The economy was jumping. There were jobs for everyone.

So with good times here, why did the number of marriages in Des Moines County dwindle dramatically?

In 1940, 1367 marriage licenses were issued at the local courthouse. In 1941 there were but 567.

Were fewer people getting married? Had living in sin become socially acceptable?

No, said county officials. More likely the decline was the result of a new Iowa law requiring couples to have blood tests before being issued a license.

J. D. Jackson, clerk of the district court, said it was likely couples were eloping, and the Hawk-Eye Gazette reported that "the parade of couples wishing to dodge the blood test now marches into Missouri" 40 miles away.

Not only did the "Show Me" state eschew blood tests -- it didn't even require a witness to the ceremony.