The 200 Year Old Story Of A Same-Sex Union

The 200 Year Old Story Of A Same-Sex Union

March 23, 2015

#gay #lgbt

By AlexKelst

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The year was 1807, over 200 years ago. Charity Bryant was traveling through Vermont when she met a young, brilliant woman named Sylvia Drake. They fell "swiftly, madly in love" and only months later, the two moved in together and Sylvia asked Charity to become her wife.

In “Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America", a new book, author Rachel Hope Cleves tells their story. Cleves also authored an academic study regarding same-sex marriages and unions in America.

Charity and Sylvia's tombstone (pictured) still stands in a Weybridge, Vermont cemetery. The two were buried together.

For more on their story, check out the links below.

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§ Washington Post and The Journal of American History

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