New York Colony Secretary Marriage Bonds Executed by Persons Obtaining Marriage Licenses

Chronological.

Under Dutch colonial rule, marriage licenses were issued as a dispensation from the proclamation of Banns. This practice continued under British rule (Laws of 1684, Chapter 10). Those to whom the Secretary of the Province issued a marriage license executed in return a penal bond worth 500 pounds stating that there was no other obligation or blood relationship which would prevent the marriage. The licenses were no longer issued after the British evacuation of New York in 1783.

Each marriage bond provides name(s) of person(s) to whom the bond was issued; names and residence (usually county) of persons to whom the marriage license was issued; date (both in monarch's years of reign and conventional); and name (signature) of witness to execution of the bond. These records only document the intention of individuals to be married and do not prove that marriages actually took place. Many of the original 40 volumes of bonds dating from 1664 were destroyed in the State Capitol Fire of 1911.

Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through inter-library loan.

Microfilm: 6 rolls; 35 mm.

"New York Marriages Previous to 1784" (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968) alphabetically lists persons to whom marriage licenses were issued, and provides date bond executed and page and volume number where bond was located prior to 1911 fire. This work has been digitized and is searchable in Ancestry.com New York.

"New York Marriage Bonds, 1753-1783," published by the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, May 12, 1972. Compiled by Dr. Kenneth Scott.

Additional descriptive information is available.

Many of the original 40 volumes of bonds dating from 1664 were destroyed in the State Capitol Fire of 1911. The surviving bonds are fragments from 18 volumes, and suffered burn damage.

Original records are closed to use because of extensive burn damage sustained in the New York State Capitol building fire of 1911. Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through inter-library loan.