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This rare piece of 1867 House stationery documents something even rarer―the solemnization of a marriage by a House Chaplain. Chaplain Charles Boynton handwrote a marriage certificate for a happy Washington couple on offiical legislative paper. Boynton was also the pastor of Washington’s abolitionist First Congregational Church, where the pair may have met him. The Civil War had brought many New England Congregationalists like Boynton to the capital, and with northern Republicans firmly in control of the House, he was a logical choice for the chaplaincy.
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Marriage Document,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2013/2013-055-000/ (April 22, 2021)
Office of the Historian
Office of Art and Archives
Attic, Thomas Jefferson Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 226-1300
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