Marriage in the 1700's

Marriage in the old days was not quite as easy, as it is today. You had to pay a hefty bond for marriage, the whole family, on both sides, made a commitment, and was court ordered after bond payments were made.

Mathew F. Wallis was my 4th generation Great Grandfather.
With the onset of war in 1775, Virginia began to train an army to defend against a British invasion. Fifers and Drummers were an important part of the eighteenth-century military. Just as Virginia enlisted soldiers and stockpiled arms and ammunition, it also trained Fifers and Drummers to work with soldiers in the field. Mathew Wallis was a Fifer.

Matthew F. Wallis married Sarah SMEED on 5 Jan 1787 in Wake County, NC. At that time, in 1797 it cost 500 pounds for a Marriage bond. Here is more history on Marriage Bonds.


Marriage Bonds were first required in North Carolina by the Act of April 4th, 1741.
This act provided that:
... every clergyman of the Church of England, or want of such,
and lawful Magistrate, within this Government, shall ... join
together in the holy estate of matrimony, such persons who may
lawfully enter into such a relation, and have complied with the
directions herein after contained ... No Minister or Justice of
the Peace ... shall celebrate the rites of matrimony ... without
license ... or thrice publication of banns as prescribed by the
rubric in the book of common prayer." "License must be
issued by the Clerk of the County Court of the county where the
female shall have her usual residence. The prospective groom, in
order to obtain this license, must make a bond with sufficient
security in the sum of fifty pounds proclamation money, with
condition that there is no lawful cause to obstruct the marriage;
if either of the persons should be under the age of twenty one
years, consent of the parent or guardian must be had.

This act provided an alternative provision in lieu of bonds, the use of banns. This may account for the absence of marriage bonds for many marriages which are known to have taken place. If the banns were properly published, according to the rubric and the customs of the Church of England, a marriage might take place without license and consequently, without a bond.
The Act of April 4th, 1741, was confirmed in 1749. In 1766, the Presbyterian, or dissenting clergy, were permitted to perform the ceremony. They had been doing this for some time, apparently illegally. Finally, in 1778, it was enacted that all regular ministers of the gospel of every denomination, having the cure of souls, and all justices of the peace, were authorized to solemnize the rites of matrimony according to the rites of their respective churches and agreeable to the rules in this act prescribed.
In 1778, provision was again made for marriage by license or by banns, published three times by any minister of the gospel. The amount of the bond required for the license was raised to five-hundred pounds lawful money of the State.

In the Revised Statutes of 1836-1837, the amount of the bond was raised to $1,000. In the revised code of 1854, the regulations remain the same. Marriage bonds were in effect for North Carolina until repealed in 1867. This same law that repealed the bonds, also stipulated that the Clerk shall keep a register of marriages for that county.

Have A Good Week
Daniel