Learning About Marriage Bonds: 52 Ancestors 2023 “Education”

 

Something Old, Something New: The Use of Marriage Bonds in 1800s America

George Rudophus Smith: 1771-1840
Lydia “Jenny” Tait: 1770-1807

 

While researching Elias Guess Smith’s siblings, I ran across a new type of record I had never seen before: a “marriage bond”. The marriage bond index available on Ancestry provided only the names and dates of the people involved. No transcription was provided, or information on what the document meant. The 1800 North Carolina record involved Elias Smith’s brother, George Rudophus Smith, and the woman he married, Jenney Tait, and Jenney’s father Zacheus Tait. I knew who and when, but I needed to learn what the document was and why it was required.

Luckily I discovered that another family historian had posted a scan of the actual bond record on Ancestry. Rather than a standardized, printed form, the bond was a hand-written legal document dated December 20, 1800. The scan below shows the original.

Here is my transcription of the document:

“Know all men by these presents that we George Smith & Zacheus Tait are held afirmly bound to Benj. Williams reg. Governor,  the Just and full sum of five Hundred pounds to be paid to the Lord Benjamin Williams and his succession in office and assigns, to which payment is well and truly to be made we bind ourselves one hun. Each and admit Jointly adversely afirmly by these presents sealed with our seals and dated the 20^th day of Dec. 1800.

“The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas the above bondsman George Smith hath obtained a license to be joyned in Holy Matrimony, with Jenney Tait, if therefore there shall be no Lawful Impediment why the said George Smith & Jenney Tait should be joyned together then the above Obligation shall be void, otherwise to remain in full force & effect.”

The document was signed by both Zacheus Tait and George Smith, as well as the Governor’s representative.  

I was shocked by the huge amount of the bond requested—500 pounds in 1800 would be the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars in today’s money. I thought if people had to put up a bond of this amount today to get married, everyone would probably choose to live in sin!

I did some research on marriage bonds, to find out exactly what they were and why they were required. The Family Locket website (see 1 below) explained:

“In 1741, “An Act Concerning Marriages” was created in North Carolina by the General Assembly, in order to curtail unlawful marriages. This law required couples desiring to be married obtain a license or publish the banns in church for three Sundays. To obtain a license, the groom was required to post a bond of fifty pounds with the condition “that there is no lawful Cause to obstruct the Marriage for which the License shall be desired.”1 The penal sum on the bond was collected from the groom or bondsman if the marriage was found to be illegal. The bondsman was sometimes called a surety – he shared the groom’s obligation. This money was a protection for the future children of the marriage.2

Marriage bonds were used in North Carolina until 1868.3 For most of this time, they were the only record of marriages, until in 1851. A law that year required justices and ministers to return the licenses with certificates showing they had performed the marriage.4

Ancestry provides a shorter explanation: (see 2 below)

“When planning to marry, the prospective groom took 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 proposed marriage.”

The bond essentially protected the woman in case the wedding failed to occur. The money could be used to support her, or to support any out-of-wedlock offspring that might result. Impediments that might lead to a broken marriage contract would include bigamy, if one of the parties was too young to be wed, or if one of the parties was some sort of criminal.

An article by Tamie Dehler published in an Indiana newspaper provided further information (see 3 below):

“Think of a marriage bond as an intention to marry – a reflection of an official “engagement.” A man who had proposed to a woman went to the courthouse with a bondsman (often the father or brother of the prospective bride), and posted a bond indicating his intention to marry the woman. The bond was an amount of money that the prospective groom would have to pay as a penalty if an impediment to the marriage was found. No money literally changed hands at the time of posting the bond. But if the groom was discovered, for instance, already to have a wife whom he had abandoned, the marriage could not go through and the man would have to pay.

George and Jenney had no impediments to their marriage, so George and his father-in-law Zacheus Tait never had to pay the 500 pounds. George and Jenney married and after several years in Caswell County, North Carolina, they eventually moved to Posey County Indiana. They had at least four children before Jenney’s death during childbirth in 1807.

Old map of Caswell County, NC

I am so glad I ran across this document, as it gave me an education in the use and purpose of marriage bonds. It is interesting that they were still charging the bond fees in British pounds as late as 1800, despite America’s independence decades earlier. I will have to further educate myself on when the dollar was adopted as American currency.

 

Sources:

1.      The Family Locket.com website: https://familylocket.com/back-to-the-basics-with-marriage-records-part-1-marriage-bonds/#:~:text=Marriage%20bonds%20were%20used%20in%20North%20Carolina%20until,practice%20of%20marriage%20bonds%20with%20them%20from%20England.

2.      https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4802/

3.      “Genealogy: Think of a marriage bond as an intention to marry”, By Tamie Dehler Aug 11, 2007. https://www.tribstar.com/news/lifestyles/genealogy-think-of-a-marriage-bond-as-an-intention-to-marry/article_0d4c0f38-f3a7-5e83-a556-e75bbaca2bd4.html