Marriage Bonds

I learned something rather surprising:  There are only four surviving marriage bonds in the Iredell County records at the NC State Archives.  I don’t know what happened to the hundreds of bonds which should have been executed over the years.  I am working to obtain copies of the four bonds.  Early marriages were often performed “by banns,” meaning that the couple had the marriage banns called in church for three consecutive weeks, and then they were considered married.  The remnant of that system is the part in the marriage ceremony asking for anyone who knows a reason the couple may not be married to speak forever or hereafter forever hold his peace.  Some church records may have information on such marriages, but otherwise a researcher will have to rely on indirect evidence such as a the name of a daughter’s married surname in a will or a son-in-law’s name in the bride’s father’s will.  Starting in the 1860s, marriage licenses started to be used, and those forms name the couple and their parents — that can name a step-parent, but do be cautious.  It is before that time period that proving a marriage is a particular challenge.