<<snipped>> First question - If it is not signed by Joshua's father does (should) that mean Joshua is over 21? <<snipped>> The signatures (on the marriage bond) are simply signatures of two bondsmen, who are prepared to be "fined" a huge amount of money if Joshua and Rebecca were not legally allowed to be married for some reason. USUALLY in the bonds I've seen, it tends to be the groom and a friend or relative of one of the parties - I don't think I've seen someone who I could link to the bride yet. On one bond, not even the groom signs. So I wouldn't read any significance into the appearance of the bride's father alongside the groom. But what I don't know is whether there is any over-arching requirement on a bondsman to be over 21. A good question.... "yeoman" is such a moveable feast that again, I don't read any meaning to it, other than someone who wanted to display some sort of status. I'd *suspect* he was over 21 if he's signing a bond and being called a yeoman. But suspicion is all it is. "FamilySearch has a record saying the Joshua WHITTAKER baptized 3rd Apr 1709 died 2nd Jul 1719 ... So have FamilySearch got that right?" When I looked at the entry in question, it has a film number 0924607 IT 1. Discarding the IT 1 from the film number, in the LDS Catalogue, there are 4 things on that film 0924607 of which only 1 relates to Gawsworth. This is "The registers of the parish church of Gawsworth in the county of Chester, 1557-1837" by Robert Dickinson, London, Ancient Monuments Society, 1955. In other words, the evidence for the baptism and burial belonging to the same person does NOT exist - it's just someone's conclusion written out in a book. They could be wrong. The only thing that matters for you is what's in the original parish registers. Fundamentally, you have to look through the registers and try and reconstruct the Joshua Whittakers of Gawsworth AND the surrounding parishes. Possibly all Whittakers in that area and era as it's the only way to be comfortable you see the full story - e.g. a woman having children 40y after her marriage is unlikely, suggesting there's 2 people of the same name as the father. Which might be important. Sorry there are no easy answers....... Adrian B