Marriage records

Licenses and bonds

A marriage license was permission from a public official to marry. In Virginia, the Library of Virginia explains, it told the minister and the public that there was no known reason the couple could not marry. County clerks issued licenses, and by the 1670s a license could only be issued in the county where the bride lived. That rule is a clue in itself: a Virginia license usually points to the bride's home county.

A marriage bond came before the license. Under a Virginia law first enacted in 1660/61, the groom went to the courthouse in the bride's county and signed a bond, with two or more sureties, promising a sum of money if there turned out to be a lawful reason the marriage should not happen, such as an existing marriage or a bride or groom under age without permission. No money changed hands. Virginia stopped requiring bonds in 1849, though some places kept using them into the 1850s.

A bond is not proof that the wedding took place; it shows the couple intended to marry. Its value lies in the names: the groom, the bride, the date, and the sureties, who may have been relatives, neighbors or friends. Note the sureties carefully and look for them in other records.

Consents

In Virginia, anyone under 21 needed the consent of a parent or guardian to marry, and clerks were not to issue a license without it. In the 1800s a parent could give consent in person to the clerk or in writing before witnesses. A surviving consent note can name a father, a widowed mother or a guardian, and confirms that the bride or groom was a minor at the time. If it is signed with a mark, the parent may not have been able to write.

Banns

Banns were a public announcement of an intended marriage, read or posted so that anyone who knew of a reason against it could speak up. In Virginia, the Library of Virginia notes, banns had to be published at three meetings in a row at the churches of both bride and groom, and before 1848 they were a legal substitute for a license.

Marriage by banns was cheaper but slower. Because it was recorded only in the church or parish register, very few Virginia banns survive. When a county has no license or bond for a couple, the marriage may have been by banns, and the church register is the place to look.

Returns and registers

After the ceremony, the person who performed it was expected to report it. In Virginia, ministers sent certificates of marriages to the county clerk, quarterly at first and yearly from 1784. The Library of Virginia warns that the law was rarely enforced: returns were sometimes late, incorrect or incomplete, and in many cases never made. Clerks built their marriage registers partly from these returns.

From 1853 Virginia recorded marriages in county registers that ask for much more: the date and place of the marriage, the full names of husband and wife, their ages and condition, meaning single or widowed, their places of birth and residence, the names of their parents, their occupations, and the name of the person who performed the ceremony. A register entry like this can carry a family back a full generation.

Reading the record with care

The Library of Congress suggests questions worth asking of any marriage file. Who performed the wedding, a minister or a justice of the peace? Had either party been married before? Were they related? Did they give their true ages, or travel away from home to marry? What was the age of consent, and was a parent's signature needed?

A bride listed as a widow may be recorded under her late husband's surname rather than her maiden name, which can send you looking for a first marriage. A record far from home may mean the couple traveled to marry, which is itself worth explaining. Treat ages and birthplaces as given by the couple or the clerk, and compare them with census and death records.