welcome to the ancestral findings podcast marriage bonds are more common than marriage
licenses in early colonial marriage records licenses didn't become common until the mid
to late 1800s bonds were usually used prior to that this is what a bond is
how it differs from a license and what type of information you may find in one of them [Music]
sometimes you may not find a marriage record but you will find a marriage bond
in fact marriage records are more of a recent invention becoming common in the mid to late 1800s
prior to that marriage bonds were the far more usual way of recording marriages in early
american communities and sometimes in european ones what is the difference between a marriage
record and a marriage bond is one type of record better than the other for genealogy research
this is what you need to know about these records first of all it is important to know
that the existence of a marriage bond does not necessarily mean a marriage took place
although it probably does a bond is an official notice of an intent to marry
the groom and usually one of his friends or relatives too had to put down a monetary
amount to secure this bond kind of like how people post bond to get people out of jail just like if
someone jumps bail and the person who paid doesn't get their bail money back the same was true for
the groom and the person vouching for him if there was later found to be a legal reason why he and or
the bride could not get married his bond money was not returned to him it was the monetary equivalent
of someone objecting to a marriage at the ceremony you might for example find that the groom and his
brother made a marriage bond that promised to pay the governor of their colony or state
a sum of 500 pounds within the bond would usually be a caveat that the promise to pay this sum
would be voided if no legal impediment to the marriage was discovered and the marriage took
place the name of the person who signs onto the bond with the groom often offers an excellent clue
as to who else's records to look into to find more information on this branch of your family tree
as with marriage records also sometimes referred to as marriage licenses the type of information
you may find in a marriage bond will vary according to the time and place it was created
these are some of the useful pieces of information you may or may not find in a marriage bond the
name of the groom this was almost always included on a marriage bond as the prospective groom
was one of two people promising to pay if the marriage was found to be illegal the bondsman
this is the person who vouched for the groom with his own money and was usually a friend or close
relative of the groom names like these always provide clues of where else and who else you can
search to add information to your family tree the location this is where the bond was signed
usually just the county is mentioned the bond is made in the county where the groom lives
and is usually where the marriage is intended to take place but not always you can research this
county for more ancestors the date of the bond the bond is usually made not too long before
the marriage even if you don't find an official marriage record this date will give you a general
idea of when the couple was married the name of the bride sometimes it's not included in the bond
if it is she may be referred to only by her first name or only by her maiden name as in miss johnson
if any part of her name is included and you didn't have a name before you now have more information
to help you find the full name of the bride if you're lucky her full name will be on the bond
signatures of the groom bondsmen and witnesses along with showing you whether your ancestor could
write depending on if he signed his name with an ex or signed his old name you will also find
names of possible close friends or family members you can research in the names of the witnesses
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