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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gavin Richardson, post: 2835314, member: 83956&quot;]Thanks everybody. Beefer is right. And it was 50 English pounds--I thought that was too easy! According to Jeff Bremer, “Settlers often used English currency. In 1800, the English pound was worth $4.55.” <i>A Store Almost in Sight: The Economic Transformation of Missouri from the Louisiana Purchase to the Civil War</i>, p. 31. And indeed, this does not mean that it cost £50 to get married. Rather, this was a contract in which parties agree to pay a substantial fine (‎£50, or about $230) if it is later discovered that the marriage was somehow objectionable. That IS a lot of money! It could buy as many as 100 acres of land in frontier Kentucky.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for helping me think through this.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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