My initial response was...'An Arranged Marriage'...then...surely not it was afterall the early 1800's. Even back in the Colonial Era when 'Arranged Marriages' were common place, my five and six times Greats married for love which occasionally involved a dowry of land, a few shillings and barnyard assets.
But here it is...null and void of any mention of love, honor and cherish...the 'Out of the Ordinary', 'Court of Ordinary' Bond of Columbia County Georgia, signed and sealed document firmly and lawfully binding my 3xGreat Grandmother Francis to marriage for the sum of $857.14.
KNOW all Men by these Presents, That we
Ichabod Pittman & Washington W. Stone
are held firmly bonded unto the Court of Ordinary of Columbia County,
in the form of
EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN DOLLARS and FOURTEEN CENTS,
to which payment well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs,
executors and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents,
sealed with our seals and dated this 12th day of October 1707
The Condition of the above Obligation is such
That, whereas there is a MARRIAGE intended to be Solemnized between the above named
Ichabod Pittman and Francis J. Stone
if there be no lawful cause to obstruct the same, then this Obligation to be void,
else to remain in full force and virtue.
Signed, Sealed and Acknowledged in the presence of
A. Crawford, clk
About Georgia Marriage Bonds
The intent of a marriage bond is to protect the Register of Probates from liability of authorizing an unlawful marriage. In a bond, the groom binds himself to the court, attesting that there should be no lawful impediment to the marriage. The information recorded in most marriage bonds includes: names of two persons binding themselves to the Register of Probates or Court of Ordinary (usually the groom and another man), date of the bond, amount of the bond (usually substantial), name of the bride and groom to be married, and conditions of the obligation. Marriage bonds were recorded from the Colonial Period through roughly the 1840's. However, few of these early marriage bonds exist. Those that exist for the Colonial Period are found in Colonial miscellaneous legal documents. Georgia Genealogy, Wisdom, Justice and Moderation!
Interestingly, this document fits the criteria for existence in the Colonial miscellaneous legal documents...it is mistakenly dated 1707. Had it been correctly dated 1807, it may never have found it's way to the Family Search Records where I found a digitally preserved copy in the Georgia County Marriage Records 1785-1850.
Ichabod Byrd and Francis Jackson Stone
Bonded In Marriage
October 12, 1807
Their children begin
How interesting. I'd never heard of that. That was a lot of money back then, too.
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