North Carolina Research : Genealogy and Local History / Helen F. M.
Leary, ed. Raleigh : North Carolina Genealogical Society, 1996
Notes from book.
MARRIAGE REOCRDS
A bride normally married in the county where she lived. The NC
statewide Marriage Bond Index accesses surviving marriage records 1742
through 1868. The surviving bonds represent only a small percentage of
the eras legal marriages. After 1867, the use of bonds was
discontinued.
Public record of marriages in NC generally begins in 1742 and of births
and deaths in 1913.
Marriage bonds in NC were in effect form 1741 to 1868. They were
originally filed with the clerk of the county court. In 1868, they were
transferred to the care of the register of deeds in each county. Nearly
all bonds were placed in the NC State Archives, arranged by county and
then alphabetically by grooms names.
Typical bond:
1. Grooms name appears at the beginning of the bond, followed by
2. Bondmans name. The bondsman, also called the surety, or
(inaccurately) the security, shared the grooms bonded obligation.
Normally there was only one bondsman but occasionally there were two.
3. The obligee, to whom the bond was conditionally payable, was the King
of England before the Revolution and the governor of the State of North
Carolina thereafter.
4. The penal sum was originally 50 pounds, becoming 500 pounds in 1778
and 1,000 dollars in the 19th century.
5. The bond date. This was the date the bond was filed, not necessarily
the date of marriage.
6. The condition of the bond hinges on potential obstructions to the
marriage. As a protection for the future children of the marriage, a
prospective groom obligated himself to pay the penal sum of the bond if
a previous impediment to marriage was found to exist. If the groom or
bride were discovered to be a bigamist or imposter or other wide
ineligible to contract a valid marriage, the man or his bondsman,
forfeited the amount of the bond. As long as the marriage was legal, the
bond was void, and no penalty was incurred if cold feet or cooled heart
cancelled the wedding.
7. The brides name. In 18th century, a description may have been
included, e.g. single woman, spinster, virgin woman, widow, or relict. A
woman called Mrs. was not necessarily a widow, since colonial society
often used the tem, derived from Mistress, to designate unmarried women
of high station.
8. The county in which the bond was filed is supposed to be where the
woman resided.
9. Signatures or signature marks of groom and bondsman. Spellings often
differ with information in the bond and sometimes different names are
given.
10. The witnesss signature. In most cases, the witness was the clerk of
the county court.
Marriage restrictions in North Carolina
From 1741 until 1960s, marriage between caucasians and persons of
American Indian or African American ancestry were forbidden.
Parties under the age of consent were forbidden to marry without
parental permission or to marry at all below the age of contractability.
These ages varied.
Marriages between parties of closer kin than first cousin were banned at
least as early as 1820.
In 1872 mental and physical imcompetents were declared incapable of
marriage
Petitions for relief from the law were made by the General Assembly.
Divorce
After the Revolution, the General Assembly assumed the power to grant
divorce until 1814 when this power was shared with the superior court in
each of the several counties. In practice, the General Assembly declined
to entertain divorce petitions after 1827, leaving it to the superior
courts.
Notes from book.
North Carolina Research : Genealogy and Local History / Helen F. M.
Leary, ed. Raleigh : North Carolina Genealogical Society, 1996