Hi Roy I was very interested in your mention of the marriage of Bridget James to George Furlong at Llawhaden as George was the brother of Charlotte Furlong, my 4 x gt grandmother. I have a large amount of information on the Furlong family back to John Furlong who died in 1754. I only know that Bridget's parents were Thomas James and Frances (possibly Gibby) but I have not made a study of that family. Are you descended from the Furlong or James line? I wonder if you have any information that we could share? The question of marriage bonds was posed on a mailing list and the response was as follows: One of the greatest obsessions of the medieval church was to prevent marriages between people who were too closely related, or under age, or already married. One way that the church devised to regulate weddings was to force the couple to have a public announcement made of their intention to marry, on three sucessive Sundays, in both their home parish churches. It was hoped that this calling of banns, as it was known, would result in anyone who knew that the weddding should not happen would come forward and say so. This wasn't to everone's taste; the well-off did not like having to announce their plans to the hoi-polloi, and, in any case, some couples might not want to wait three weeks before tying the knot. So, from the Middle Ages onwards an alternataive system arose - seeking a licence from an ecclesiastical authority. To do so, the groom would make an allegation that there would be a marriage bond, whereby, instead of public scrutiny, the groom and a bondsman (who would often be a relative of the bride or groom) would simply give their word that all was above board. They would agree to pay a substantial fine, which they could ill afford, if they wre found to be lying The marriage bond was dated 17 Feb 1821, the marriage took place on 20 Feb 1821 and their first child, Thomas James Furlong, was baptised on 20 March 1821 ( the father's name being incorrectly given as John). This child was buried at Llawhaden on 13 June 1821 aged just three months. It would seem that speed was the necessity for the bond. Shotgun wedding as perhaps her family did not want her to bear another of his illegitimate children - he had already had an illegitimate daughter, Sarah, by Sarah Hitchings who was baptised at Narberth Parish Church on 6 April 1819. Kind regards Joy