Ministers Marry Lots of People… But Typically By Officiating, Not By Participating

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By Commonplace Fun Facts on January 15, 2015 • ( 2 Comments )

Wolfe with wife #18 and #19 (first marriage was 2 years; the second, less than a year), Sharon Goodwin

Rev. Glynn “Scotty” Wolfe (1908 – 1997) holds the Guinness World Record for the largest number of monogamous marriages. Between 1926 and his death in 1997, Wolfe was married twenty-nine times to 26 different women. The longest marriage lasted eleven years. The shortest was nineteen days. Four of the marriages ended with the death of the wife. His final marriage ended with his death. The remaining twenty-four marriages were terminated by divorce.

Wolfe was a Baptist minister in Blythe, California. His final marriage, said to be a publicity stunt (as opposed to the others, where he really took his vows seriously?) was to Linda Essex, who holds the record for most marriages by a woman (23 times to 15 different men). Her shortest marriage lasted three days.

It should be noted that although Wolfe had 29 wives, 19 children, 40 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren when he died, no one would claim his body. source