North Carolina Marriages, 1850-1868


Records
The 33,000 records in this database are an index to marriage records available from North Carolina between 1850 and 1868. A few of the records extend as far as from 1842 to 1900. The following counties and dates are included in this collection:

- Ashe, (Marriage Bonds)
- Bertie, 1850-1868, (Marriage Certificates)
- Catawba, 1842-1900, 1850-1900 includes only A-K, (Marriages)
- Currituck, 1851-1867, Book A, (Marriage Bonds)
- Davidson, 1827-1867, (Marriage Bonds)
- Davie, 1851-1868 (Marriage Bonds and Certificates)
- McDowell, 1851-1881, (Marriage Bonds)
- Wayne, 1851-1856 (Brides Index)
- Wilkes, 1851-1856 (Brides Index)
- Yadkin, (Marriage Bonds and Certificates)

The existence of these records is fortunate because most North Carolina marriages were not recorded before 1868. After 1868 the register of deeds in each county was given the task of issuing marriage licenses. Many of these records are of marriage bonds. Marriage bonds have been common in the South. They were posted by the groom alone or with a second person, usually the father or the brother of the bride, to defray the costs of litigation in the event the marriage was nullified. Bonds were posted in the jurisdiction where the marriage was to take place, often in the bride's home county. These bonds, the only marriage records maintained in some jurisdictions, were usually annotated with the marriage date after the ceremony.

Checking the box for Soundex will find possible matches to your search accounting for spelling variations according to the Soundex formula. For an explanation of the Soundex formula, see the following entry from The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy.