Pictured is a rare tintype view of Squire Thomas Shelton taken circa 1865.
(By Stephen Kelley from the People’s Defender 1984)
For several decades the village of Aberdeen was commonly known as the Gretna Green of Ohio. Gretna Green is a village situated in Scotland near the border of England. It became famous in song and prose as a result of the numerous runaway marriages which took place there.
Aberdeen became the Gretna Green of Ohio as a consequence of the actions of two different justices of the peace who resided in the village. Thomas Shelton and Massie Beasley put Aberdeen on the map and made themselves famous by marrying couples who did not have marriage licenses. Over a span of seventy years, more than twenty thousand marriages were performed in Aberdeen without benefit of license.
It all began in 1822 when Shelton began this peculiar practice. He had been born in Stafford County, Virginia in 1776 and had moved to southern Ohio in 1812, He became the second justice of the peace in Huntington Township in 1816 when he succeeded Nathan Ellis, founder of Aberdeen, in that position. He held the JP office for fifty-four years surrendering it only upon the summons of the angel of death in 1870.
During those fifty-four years, “Squire” Shelton united more than four thousand couples in holy matrimony- all without license. Upon his death it was stated that he had married more people than anyone else in the United States.
Although kind-hearted, generous and described as a loveable old gentleman, Shelton was in the matrimonial game for profit. He always made certain the groom could pay for his professional services before the ceremonies were conducted. He ofttimes spent more time dickering over the fee than performing the wedding. Although he preferred cash, he was known to accept other items in payment ranging from pocketknives to fresh farm produce.
Squire Shelton’s marriage ceremony was short (sometimes it had to be) and quaint. Standing in front of the moonstruck lovers and their witnesses he would state: “Marriage is a solemn ordinance, instituted by an Allwise Jehovah. “Jine your right hands. Do you take this woman to nourish and cherish, to keep her in sickness and health)(Answer) I hope you will live long and do well together. Take your seats.”
Payment was then made, and the newlyweds were on their way.
