Swaim, Benjamin The North Carolina Justice pg 312-315 He summarizes the law in effect in 1839 and provides some added information: No white person is permitted to marry an Indian, negro, mustee or mulatto, or any person of mixed blood, to the third generation All the personal propery that the wife has in possession at the time of the marriage is vested absolutely in the husband; and he is liable for all her debts, whether her property be sufficient to pay them or not The age of discretion is fixed at 14 years old in males, and twelve in females.If they marry younger, they may disagree to the marriage when they arrive at these respective ages, and it therefore becomes void to all intents and purpose. Or if one party only be under the age of consent, and the other of full age, the party of full age is bound and the infant is not. Relations of the 3rd degree, whether by consanguinity or affinity, may lawfully marry, but not nearer than the 3rd degree, counting, not from, but though the common ancestor, so that first cousins may lawfully marry, although the father and the mother of each party were reciprocally the brother and the sister of the parents of the other party. What did this mean to your ancestor? Many people did not follow these laws, and although their marriage was considered legitimate, there will be no record. Even IF they did file the bonds, apply for the license, publish the banns, receive the certificates of banns, ONLY the Marriage BOND was a public record. If they chose to publish banns, no Bond was made. Not everyone who posted a BOND actually got married. Where are the Bertie County Marriage Bonds? NC Archives (Raleigh) has: Marriage Bonds, 1762-1858; 5 Fibredex boxes Marriage Licenses, 1870-1903; 5 Fibredex boxes Miscellaneous Marriage Records, 1749-1914; 1 Fibredex box Published Resources: Dunstan, Edythe Smith. The Bertie Index for courthouse records of Bertie Co, (1720-1875) (Deeds, land divisions, grants, abstracts of wills and marriage bonds) Fouts, Raymond Parker. Marriage Register of Bertie Co. 1869-June 1872. (1990) Fouts, Raymond Parker. Marriage Register of Bertie Co. 1762-1868. (1989) Lookup: Kathy Harrison [email protected] Be specific about title of book and names of persons. .. Carol P. Martoccia .. 903 East Fifth Street .. Greenville, NC 27858 .. Pridgen Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/6297 .. Pridgen Archives: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl