There are hundreds of men and women now living together, who have
around them large families, and yet were never married. Connections
of this kind exist in New Orleans to a much greater extent than
is generally known. As evidence on this point, a very worthy and
intelligent lady living in the Third Municipality informed me that a
Methodist minister accidentally left at her house his book of record
for marriages, which the law now requires every clergyman to keep. In
looking it through, she found that he had married within the last two
years thirty-three of her neighbors, heads of families, and many of
them having children that were married, who had been living together
as man and wife, and as such every one regarded them. They had been
privately married to enable the children to inherit their property,
as a law in Louisiana has been enacted with a view to meet these very
cases.