NJHUNTER-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: [NJHUNTER] NJ Marriages
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 23:58:37 -0500 (CDT)

>
>I just received a copy of a marriage bond for the marriage of Obadiah Evans
>and Sarah Coleman in 1772 in Amwell Twp., Hunterdon Co., NJ. It is signed by
>Obadiah Evins and Jacob Johnson. In parts of the document the writing is
>very faint, but it appears a sum of five hundred pounds was involved as
>payment to "William Franklin, Esq., Captain, General and Governor in Chief of
>New Jersey".
>
>Does anyone know the purpose of issuing marriage bonds? Was the money
>actually paid, or was it a promise to pay if the marriage broke up? The
>amount of five hundred pounds seems extremely high. Who would issue the
>marriage bonds, the groom's parents or the bride's, or both, or perhaps a
>family friend?
>
>I am assuming that Obadiah was the name of the father as well as the son,
>since the Obadiah whom married Sarah Coleman, named his son, Obadiah, but I
>do not know where the name Jacob Johnson would come from. It is interesting
>to note that Obadiah and Sarah's granddaughter, Mary, married Mahlon
>Johnston/Johnson.
>

There are two part to the early NJ Marriage Bonds:
The first part (or paragraph) names the bondsmen (usually two individuals), in almost all cases they are
the groom and a fellow bondsman who may be a relative of the groom, the bride, or simply a family friend.
Often the residence of the groom and bondsman is given, and sometimes even the occupation. Then the
person to whom the bondsmen are "indebted" or bound to is named, usually the Governor of the Province,
(and later State) of New Jersey, then the amount of the bond is given (in the first 1000 bonds that I've
transcribed so far, only two have been for other than 500 pounds New Jersey money). And lastly the date
of the bond.

In 1777, there was a slight change in the second paragraph of the bond which more clearly stated the
terms of the bond:

"The Condition of this Obligation is such, That whereas there is a mutual Contract of Marriage between
__(groom's name)___ of the one Party, and ___(bride's name)___ of the other Party, and the Parties have
complied with the Terms prescribed in an Act of the General Assembly of New-Jersey, made in the Year
of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Nineteen, entitled, 'An Act to prevent Clandestine
Marriages.' Now if it shall hereafter appear that the Certificates produced, or either of them, have been
fraudulent; or that either the aforesaid _(groom's name)__ or the aforesaid __(bride's name)__ had not the
Consent of their Parents, Guardians, or Persons under whose Care they were, signing the said
Certificates; or that the said __(groom's name)__ or the said __(bride's name)__ or either of them, had
some lawful Let or Impediment of Pre-contract, Affinity or Consanguinity, to hinder their being joined in the
Holy Bands of Matrimony, and afterwards of living together as Man and Wife; then this Obligation to stand
and remain in full Force and Virtue, otherwise to be void and of none Effect."

Under this paragraph, on the right hand side of the page, are the signatures of the bondsmen, and on the
left, under the notation: "Sealed and delivered in the Presence of" is the signature (or signatures) of the
witness(es). Often one of the witnesses was a "Surrogate" of the County Court, but not in all cases.

On ONE bond, I found a notation of payment for the bond which was in the amount of 1 pound 4 shillings,
which appears to have been the actual cost of obtaining the marriage bond.

The purpose of the bond was to ensure that there was no fraud involved in the marriage; if, at some time it
became evident that one of the parties to the marriage was not legally "entitled" to be married, then the
bondsmen could have been made to pay the amount of the bond to the legal government of the state (not
to the particular Governor named in the bond).

I have found that it is not uncommon to find two or more different spellings of the groom's name in the
bond. BUT DO NOT ASSUME that the father of the groom or bride is named in the bond. In the case of
this particular bond, Obadiah Evans/Evins is the groom and Jacob Johnson is the fellow bondsman. There
is no indication in the bond as to the father of Obadiah. Further research is needed to determine who
Obadiah's father was, and if (and how) Jacob Johnson was related to either of the couple being married.

I hope that this is helpful. Pat B

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