England, Cheshire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations - FamilySearch Historical Records

England Cheshire

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes marriage records from the county of Cheshire for the years 1606-1900.

Marriage allegations and bonds were sworn statements filed by a bride and groom as part of a marriage license application. The allegation stated that there was no known reason that the marriage should not take place; bonds contractually obligated the signers to pay a sum of money if the allegation was incorrect. Until 1733, marriage bonds were written partly in Latin but the wording was standardized and is easier to decipher in the printed forms that were in use by the 1690s.

Due to both tradition and a fee associated with obtaining a marriage license, most English couples were married by banns, not by license, and so would have neither a marriage allegation nor its related bond. However, families able to pay the fee would often avoid the reading of public banns and obtain a license, since many families did not like the thought of public objection to the intended marriage. Before the 1830s, nonconformists were required to marry officially in the Church of England, so most applied for licenses, rather than having their marriage announced by banns. Other possible reasons for obtaining marriage licenses are explained in the Marriage Allegations, Bonds and Licences in England and Wales article.

Although most bonds and allegations have survived, some are in poor condition and difficult to read, especially when the microfilmed images are badly focused. Licenses themselves were not normally retained for long after being handed to the officiating minister, though exceptions are known to exist.

One of the 39 historic counties of England, Cheshire is a coastal county in northwestern England which shares its western border with Wales. For a list of the parishes which historically made up this county with links to more information about each of them, see the Cheshire Parishes page. Before 1847, Cheshire was overseen by the Diocese of Chester, which also covered certain parishes in Lancashire. Records from some Lancashire parishes may therefore be present in the collection; it could be helpful to use the Historical Jurisdictions Map to locate pre-1851 parish boundaries.

Collection Content
This collection contains solely marriage records.

What Can This Collection Tell Me?
The following list indicates potential information provided in these records. It must be remembered that every record may not provide all the listed information, as record-keeping practices varied greatly over time.

Marriage Bonds and Allegations may include:
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Ages of bride and groom
 * Bride and groom’s occupations
 * Whether the individuals were single or widowed
 * Parish of residence
 * Where the marriage was to take place (sometimes included)
 * Parents’ name or signature (sometimes included)
 * If either of the marriage partners was a minor, the allegation would name the parent or guardian consenting to the marriage.

How Do I Search the Collection?
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I Found the Person I Was Looking for, What Now?

 * Make sure to fully transcribe and cite the record entry for future reference. See below for assistance in citing this collection. Save or print a copy of the image if possible.
 * Use the information which has been discovered to find more. For instance, use the estimated age given in a marriage record to calculate an approximate year of birth, if that is yet undetermined.
 * If in the appropriate period, use the information which has been discovered to find the individual in civil records. Particularly useful for research in nineteenth-century England are the England Census and the England Civil Registration records.
 * Continue to search the index to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Note that family members often appear on an individual's vital records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking for, What Now?
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 * Check for variants of given names, surnames, and place names. Transcription errors could occur in any handwritten record; also, it was not uncommon for an individual be listed under a nickname or an abbreviation of their name. See Abbreviations Found in Genealogy Records for examples of common abbreviations. Note that some women reverted to their maiden name when their husband died, and therefore could be buried under their maiden name.
 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible candidates which can then be examined for matches.
 * Search the records of nearby parishes. While it was uncommon for an individual in this period to move more than about 20 miles from their place of birth, smaller relocations were not uncommon. For this particular collection, this step may require finding records in the bordering English counties of Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire or Shropshire to the south, or in the Welsh counties of Denbighshire and Flintshire to the west. Note that marriages usually took place in the parish where the bride resided.

Citing this Collection
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