A History of Marriage A History of Marriage A History of Marriage, published by Seven Stories Press, is a non-fiction book by Elizabeth Abbott, the Canadian author of "A History of Celibacy" (1999) and "A History of Mistresses" (2003) that combines general history and personal histories of marriage. The book is a study of mostly North American rituals of courting, nuptials, marriage, sex, child-raising and divorce. Some topics covered are relative ages at which various societies from Chinese to Mormon married off their girls; details of the satisfying marriage of Martin Luther and former nun Katharina von Bora; the ruptured family units of Native
Catharine Merrill 1867 and served on its board. The Catharine Merrill Club, an Indianapolis literary organization established in 1885, was named in her honor; Indianapolis Public Schools renamed Public School Number 25 the Catharine Merrill School in 1900; and Merrill's friends and former students endowed Butler University's Catharine Merrill Chair of English in 1907 (the endowment lapsed in 1930). Merrill was born on January 24, 1824, in Corydon, Indiana, to Samuel and Lydia Jane (Anderson) Merrill. Her father, a native of Vermont who attended Dartmouth College, was an early leading citizen of Indiana. He moved to Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana, in 1816,