Hi Charles There were no Bastard bond kept in Alabama. There was a lot of that going on in Marshall county I have several sad stories I can relate with the same lack of a husband some in my direct line and some siblings of my direct ancestors. There appears to be an Indian link to both families that I have in this area and this may explain why . My Bright family: oldest proven ancestor Rachael Bright be.1832 in Al says father was b in England. She has one brother Marion Frances Bright b 1833 Al. She appears to be siblings to the other Brights living in Marshall county Al in 1850. I anyone is interested contact me on this family I have a lot of other information but nothing to prove the father for Rachael or her children. One point of interest is the other siblings noted above gave Ga as birthplace of their father. Which suggests that it is possible that Rachael and Frances had a different father which is no hard feat in this family!. The other family with this same problem is the Lafollette/Lafarlette family. Jeremiah LaFarlette(Lafollette) He came from Sever County TN in the late 1840s's with his wife Pricilla Patterson a Cherokee. Several of their children had children out of wedlock. Jeremiah died about 1857-8 in a logging accident. His daughters had several incidents of children out of wedlock. As you can see Charles I would love it if Marshall County had provided Bastard Bonds, It would have made my research Much easier. I have been a researcher for 25+ years and this is without a doubt the highest rate of illegitimate births I have found in my family or any others I have worked on. I have also met several folks with family from Marshall/Jackson who have encountered the same problem. btw, Who is your family? Best Wishes Linda Davis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Stephenson" <crsdrs@txdirect.net> To: <ALMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 4:51 PM Subject: [ALMARSHA] Bastard Bonds > Has any researcher in Marshall County ever ran across any Bastard Bonds > filed in the county records? My gg-grandmother, as far as has been > determined, never married yet had two sons. The census records indicate the > first son's father was from SC and the second son's father was from AL. It > is believed that valuable data could be contained in these bonds if they > exist. Thanks. > > Charles Stephenson > San Antonio, Texas > > > ==== ALMARSHA Mailing List ==== > To post your queries to the list send them to ALMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com. > To contact the listowner send a message to ALMARSHA-admin@rootsweb.com. > > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=702&sourceid=1237 > >

Hmmm, I must be a little dense. I have never heard of a document called a Bastard Bond, but there are many Bonds in Marshall County and no doubt some were born out of wedlock. I spent quite some time last night trying to find my Woods Colt Bond relatives. Ed Linda Kay Davis wrote: >Hi Charles > There were no Bastard bond kept in Alabama. There was a lot of >that going on in Marshall county I have several sad stories I can relate >with the same lack of a husband some in my direct line and some siblings of >my direct ancestors. There appears to be an Indian link to both families >that I have in this area and this may explain why . My Bright family: oldest >proven ancestor Rachael Bright be.1832 in Al says father was b in England. >She has one brother Marion Frances Bright b 1833 Al. She appears to be >siblings to the other Brights living in Marshall county Al in 1850. I anyone >is interested contact me on this family I have a lot of other information >but nothing to prove the father for Rachael or her children. One point of >interest is the other siblings noted above gave Ga as birthplace of their >father. Which suggests that it is possible that Rachael and Frances had a >different father which is no hard feat in this family!. The other family >with this same problem is the Lafollette/Lafarlette family. Jeremiah >LaFarlette(Lafollette) He came from Sever County TN in the late 1840s's with >his wife Pricilla Patterson a Cherokee. Several of their children had >children out of wedlock. Jeremiah died about 1857-8 in a logging accident. >His daughters had several incidents of children out of wedlock. As you >can see Charles I would love it if Marshall County had provided Bastard >Bonds, It would have made my research Much easier. I have been a researcher >for 25+ years and this is without a doubt the highest rate of illegitimate >births I have found in my family or any others I have worked on. I have also >met several folks with family from Marshall/Jackson who have encountered the >same problem. >btw, Who is your family? >Best Wishes >Linda Davis >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Charles Stephenson" <crsdrs@txdirect.net> >To: <ALMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 4:51 PM >Subject: [ALMARSHA] Bastard Bonds > > >>Has any researcher in Marshall County ever ran across any Bastard Bonds >>filed in the county records? My gg-grandmother, as far as has been >>determined, never married yet had two sons. The census records indicate >> >the > >>first son's father was from SC and the second son's father was from AL. It >>is believed that valuable data could be contained in these bonds if they >>exist. Thanks. >> >>Charles Stephenson >>San Antonio, Texas >> >> >>==== ALMARSHA Mailing List ==== >>To post your queries to the list send them to ALMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com. >>To contact the listowner send a message to ALMARSHA-admin@rootsweb.com. >> >> >>============================== >>Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 >>Source for Family History Online. Go to: >>http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=702&sourceid=1237 >> >> > > >==== ALMARSHA Mailing List ==== >To post your queries to the list send them to ALMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com. >To contact the listowner send a message to ALMARSHA-admin@rootsweb.com. > > >============================== >Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp > >

Linda, So there were no Bastard Bonds for the state of AL? Or was this something that each county would have had? My 3rd gr-gm had about 7 children and so far we have not been able to find a husband. From what I have been reading on different lists, this was not as uncommon as we think for that time period. One cousin said that a couple of aunts many years back was doing research on this same ancester and supposedly found something that indicated that the children were fathered by a man who owned property very close to theirs. When they took this information to their father, he through a hissy fit and no one ever did research again. There has never been a husband indicated on any of the census that I have seen so far, but children occurred. I do know that my she was one of the first landowners in Lawrence Co AL. Cynthia East Peoria, IL > There were no Bastard bond kept in Alabama.