I received the following info from Lynn Richardson at the Durham County Public Library. She is having trouble posting to the D-OGS listserv but wanted to share this with us: For the information of everyone looking for Orange County marriage bonds, here's what the NC Collection at the Durham County Library has: 1) "Index to marriage bonds filed in the North Carolina States Archives" on microfilm. 2) Ruth Herndon Shields' "Two hundred and two early marriages 1752-1800: found in Orange County, NC, wills which do not appear in the collected marriage bonds." Some general information about marriage bonds for NC: The marriage bonds for NC were abstracted in the 1930s by National Youth Administration Project workers. William Perry Johnson, who edited and published "The North Carolinian: A Quarterly Journal of Genealogy and History," says this about Orange County marriage bonds (v. 4, no. 1, March 1958): ORANGE CO. (formed 1752) -- All marriage bonds 1752-1778 are missing. There are around 8000 marriage bonds preserved for the 1779-1868 period; the originals are in the Archives in Raleigh. Marriage records in the courthouse date from 1851. He also says in a subsequent issue: "Less than 2500 marriage bonds have been preserved for the entire state of North Carolina for the 1741-1778 period. Approximately 7500 marriage bonds (75%) of all issued 1741-1778) have been lost or destroyed or are missing. Since only one-third of the marriages performed in North Carolina 1741-1778 were by license and bond (the other two-thirds were by banns), and since three-quarters of the marriage bonds are lost, this total of 2500 marriage bonds that have been preserved represents less than 10% of all marriage performed between 1741 and 1778." To all D-OGS members--please let me know if I can be of any help to you in your search. Lynn Lynn Richardson North Carolina Collection Durham County Library (919) 560-0171 -- Richard =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Richard K. Ellington ITS Data Centers Manager Information Technology Services University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 440 W. Franklin St., CB 1150 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1150 Control Center - http://control-center.unc.edu 919-698-8591 (voice) 919-843-9153 (fax) [email protected] "We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the job". -Winston Churchill =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=