To Laura, Judy, and all, I feel I have to respond to Laura's reaction to the Marriage Licenses of Stokes County, NC. It is very rare to find any marriage license before 1868 when "as part of the reorganization of state and local government under Reconstruction, an act was approved transferring the power to issue licenses to the Register of Deeds and making the license the only public record of a marriage."...as the Introduction to the book states. When looking for marriages before then, I always look to marriage BONDS, not LICENSES. These were two different types of documents, with different information. Therefore I am glad someone had a copy of the marriage bond book and did find the marriage she needed. I have loved having the Marriage License 1839-1887 book and its sequel, Marriage Licenses of Stokes Co NC 1888-1900. Because licenses did require parents of each party, ages, actual marriage date, etc., if you can make a hit, you can often add lots to the family record. The problem is not the book, but what one could realistically expect to find...the title said "Licenses" not marriage "records". Thanks, Jane