Thanks very much for your response. So the clerk's office would information on what the marriage laws were at the time then? What's bothering me about this marriage certificate is the no witnesses part, no one to stand up for the bride. From what I can figure from her death record and from later census schedules, she would have been around 16/17 at the time of the marriage so I would have thought someone would have stood up for her. That is assuming that she would have admitted to being underage at the time of her marriage. But even if she didn't, wouldn't she have had to find someone who would confirm her age? This missing piece is just nagging at me for some reason and I'd love to be able to figure out what the state of affairs was at the time. Nicole LaRue --- On Tue, 10/21/08, Andrea <andrea.genealogy@pceaze.com> wrote: > From: Andrea <andrea.genealogy@pceaze.com> > Subject: RE: [INRANDOL] Newbie with a question on marriage > To: nikkisbc@yahoo.com, inrandol@rootsweb.com > Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 12:38 AM > Yes, this is typical of that time period. The museum has > marriage bonds, > where someone would swear that the bride was of age, or > that the couple had > permission, but I don't think that year is a part of > the collection that we > have. Contact the museum for more information on how to > find more out. > www.randolphcountyindianahistoricalsociety.org These were > filed at the > clerks office at the Randolph County Courthouse. You would > need to inquire > about the laws governing marriages through the clerks > office as well, I > would think. Andrea > > -----Original Message----- > Subject: [INRANDOL] Newbie with a question on marriage > > 1855 marriage certificate and there were no witnesses > present, and no > parental consent given, wondering if this was typical of > the > Any info would be greatly appreciated. Nikki