Document: Order to the magistrates of Gravesend not to publish bans of matrimony or perform marriages for people who have not resided there for the last year

The director-qeneral and council of New Netherland to all who shall see this, greetings. Let it be known that they have commissioned, authorized and directed, as they herewith commission, authorize and direct the sworn court-messenger, Klaes van Elslandt, the elder, to proceed upon receipt hereof to the village of Gravesande to inform the magistrates there that they must not continue to post or publish any marriage proclamations or bans, much less confirm any marriage among persons of whom the man or the woman, groom or bride, are not residents or have not lived within the jurisdiction of their village during the last year, unless the magistrates have been shown a certificate or document signed by a magistrate, church official or a commissioner authorized thereto by the high administration stating that such persons have conformed to the laws, ordinances and regulations of Netherland, which must be observed here, and have had their intentions proclaimed without interference during three consecutive weeks at the place where both or one of them are residents or have lived during the last year. If the aforesaid magistrates should continue to act contrary to this summons and our former express prohibition, and contrary to all general and special edicts, ordinances and regulations prescribed by the civil laws of our fatherland as well as by imperial statutes, then the director-general and council declare, for the present, such a manner of marrying unlawful, being contrary to all civil and political laws and ordinances in force here, in our fatherland and among all our Christian neighbors. Dated 10 February 1654, New Amsterdam; was signed; P. Stuyvesant, Nicasius de Sille, Cornelis van Werckhoven, La Montagne.