Index to Marriage Bonds Filed in the North Carolina State Archives: 1741-1861

            Before obtaining a marriage licence, the prospective groom had to take out a bond from the clerk of the court in the county where the bride had her usual residence as surety that there was no legal obstacle to the marriage. Legal obstacles could be: already married to someone else, under age, ineligible because of close blood relationship, vow of celibacy or lack of consent. The assurance was given in the form of a bond for a certain amount of money. The friend or relative signed as the groom’s security on the bond, commonly known as becoming a bondsman. If the groom had been sued for violating the marriage contract, the bondsman would have had to pay any legal costs associated. No money actually changed hands at the time the bond was issued. There was an alternate provision: marriages could be by licence, or by banns which were public announcements in the parish church that a marriage was to take place. If the banns were properly published according to the customs of the church, the marriage might take place without a licence or a bond. This could account for the absence of bonds for many marriages known to have taken place.

            

            There are two groupings of indexes: one by groom’s surname, and one by bride’s surname. The bonds contain the following information: groom’s name, bride’s name, date of bond, country code, bondsman, witness, and bond number. The county code numbers (first three digits) which are found in the column after the date of the bond, correspond to a separate listing of North Carolina county code numbers found in the Archives Information Circular (see Electronic Finding Aid section). Many bonds do not mention the name of the bride. The group of bonds not listing a bride appear at the start of the bride index.
            

            The State of North Carolina’s Office of Archives and History has produced an Archives Information Circular which contains the county name which corresponds to the county code, and a listing of abbreviations (see Electronic Finding Aid section).