Genealogy Corner: Understanding marriage bonds

Marriage bonds in early Rockingham and Stokes counties were legal pledges signed by a prospective groom and a guarantor to ensure there were no legal obstacles to a marriage. These documents, widely used in North Carolina between 1741 and 1868, acted as a financial promise or a conditional contract. In Rockingham County (established in 1785) and Stokes County (established in 1789), historical records show that the large sums of money listed on these bonds ranging from 50 pounds to 1,000 dollars were only collected as penalties if the marriage was later discovered to be illegalTo understand how marriage worked in early North Carolina history, it helps to step back to a time before modern computer databases, photo identifications, and automated background checks. If a couple wanted to get married in the late 1700s or early 1800s, the community needed a way to verify that the union was legal.The state offered two main paths to marriage. The first was called “banns”.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.