 Along with other English customs , settlers arriving in the American colonies during the late 17th and early 18th century took with them the practice of wife selling , and the belief in its legitimacy as a way of ending a marriage . In 1645 " The P 'ticular Court " of Hartford , Connecticut , reported the case of Baggett Egleston , who was fined 20 shillings for " bequething his wyfe to a young man " . The Boston Evening @-@ Post reported on 15 March 1736 an argument between two men " and a certain woman , each one claiming her as his Wife , but so it was that one of them had actually disposed of his Right in her to the other for Fifteen Shillings " . The purchaser had , apparently , refused to pay in full , and had attempted to return " his " wife . He was given the outstanding sum by two generous bystanders , and paid the husband — who promptly " gave the Woman a modest Salute wishing her well , and his Brother Sterling much Joy of his Bargain . " An account in 1781 of a William Collings of South Carolina records that he sold his wife for " two dollars and half [ a ] dozen bowls of grogg " . 
