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The Official Home Page of
JAMES RADA, JR.
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"History consists of a series of accumulated imaginative inventions." - Voltaire
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October 1, 2009

My new book is out! It's a collection of articles
that have run in the Cumberland Times-News and
Allegany Magazine with some new material added.
It also has 37 historical photos inside. Check it out
on the Catalog page

“We are gathered here to join this man this woman together in matrimony.
The contract of marriage is a most solemn one and not to be entered into
lightly but thoughtfully and seriously and with deep realization of its
obligations and responsibility. If anyone can show just cause why they
should not be lawfully joined together let him speak now, or else forever
hold his peace,” Richard L. Davis said on January 2, 1964, as he
performed the first civil marriage in Garrett County.

He stood in a room on the second floor of the Garrett County Courthouse,
“decorated especially for the occasion and future civil marriages,”
according to The Republican.

A 1963 act passed by the Maryland General Assembly made it legal for
clerks of the circuit court to perform civil marriages. The change took effect
with the new year, but since New Year’s Day was a legal holiday, the first
civil marriages in Maryland couldn’t happen until January 2. Maryland was
the last state in the country to allow civil marriages.

“Do you take this woman, Margaret Ann Durigon, to be your lawfully
wedded wife?” Davis asked. He had to couple join hands. “Now repeat
after me, I, Bernard Benjamin Bialon, take this woman, Margaret Ann
Durigon, for my lawful wife to have and to hold, from this day forward, for
better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until
death do us part.”

Durigon was 20 years old and lived in Keisterville, Pa. She worked as a
stripper for a textile mill. Bialon was 21 years old and lived in Uniontown,
Pa. He worked as a machinist for the same mill.

There were no witnesses at the small ceremony, just Davis and the
couple. However, witnesses were not a requirement for Maryland
marriages.

“Place the ring on her finger and say, ‘With this ring, I thee wed,’” David
instructed Bialon.

It was almost accidental that Durigon and Bialon became the first couple
wed in a civil ceremony in Garrett County. According to The Republican,
another couple had wanted to be the first couple, but they didn’t have the
$10 cost for the service.

The cost for a civil ceremony at the time was $10 in addition to an
application fee of $1 and a $4 marriage license. Durignon’s and Bialon’s
cost $5 since they were county residents.

From the revenue generated by the license and application fees, $2 went
to the county government. In turn, the Garrett County Commissioners
turned over 85 percent of the amount to the Ruth Enlow Library and 15
percent to the Garrett County Historical Society. The remaining revenues
from the fees stayed in the clerk’s office.

Of the $10 cost for the civil ceremony, $8 went into the Garrett County
general fund and $2 went to the clerk’s office.

“By the power and authority vested in me as clerk of the Circuit court for
Garrett County, Maryland, and I now pronounce you man and wife,” Davis
said, and so history was made and future created.

In the first eight days of 1964, 24 marriage licenses were applied for and
seven of the couple requested civil ceremonies.
I Now Pronounce You
Husband and Wife
by James Rada, Jr.
Featured Article
(originally published in the Cumberland Times-News)
This page was last updated June 2008.
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