Kit, Many people in that part of the state went to SC to marry, where a license was not required till sometime about 1910 or after. They just went over the state line and married, usually by a minister. There was one minister, a Mr. Mullinax, who kept books of his marriages, and some volumes of those books survives and are published with the Cleveland Co. marriage register. That may be what happened to your folks. Have you found Benjamin Bradley in 1880 census? Lynn Wesson Chapel Hill, NC -----Original Message----- From: Kit McChesney [mailto:kitmcchesney@msn.com] Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 6:04 PM To: NCRUTHER-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [NCRUTHER-L] Marriage records, missing, or never recorded? Hello Rutherford-ers-- I have sent inquiries to every single county in North Carolina, checked Bill Floyd's list of brides and grooms, and looked high and low for any evidence at all that my great-grandmother, Esther Bradley (her maiden name) actually married my great-grandfather, Benjamin Bradley, around 1881. Esther is single in 1880. Benjamin doesn't show up anywhere in any census at the appropriate time, and by 1900, Esther is a widow, with five children. We have no census for 1890, so I can't find him there. I have no burial for him (Esther is buried in the Clifton Cemetery in Clifton, SC, d. 1910) and for all the world, he just seems never to have existed. As far as I've been able to tell, neither Esther nor Benjamin had a will (they probably would have had nothing to leave anyone anyway, since Esther and her children were poor farmers, and later worked in cotton mills. They rented their property in 1900 and 1910, when Esther died. Has anyone had trouble finding marriage records for their Rutherford/Cleveland County ancestors, folks who might have married around 1880, a period of time when one would expect some record of a marriage to be recorded? Even though one would presume that everyone who claimed to be married actually did marry, what is the reality? Did some folks just pretend to be married? (I won't use the euphemism for this practice). Did some folks marry but not report their marriages? Was common-law marriage "common" at that time? This is one problem that has befuddled me for years. Does anyone have a brilliant thought that might jog my process and get me moving in a more fruitful direction? (I'm not expecting miracles, but two or more heads can often be better than one!) Thanks in advance. Any suggestions, help, or even hollering, appreciated! Kit McChesney ==== NCRUTHER Mailing List ==== Subscribing: Clicking on one of the shortcut links below should work, but if your browser doesn't understand them, try these manual instructions: to join NCRUTHER-L, send mail to NCRUTHER-L-request@rootsweb.com with the single word subscribe in the message subject and body. To join NCRUTHER-D, do the same thing with NCRUTHER-D-request@rootsweb.com. Unsubscribing: To leave NCRUTHER-L, send mail to NCRUTHER-L-request@rootsweb.com with the single word unsubscribe in the message subject and body. To leave NCRUTHER-D, do the same thing with NCRUTHER-D-request@rootsweb.com. For questions about this list, contact the list administrator at NCRUTHER-admin@rootsweb.com