MARRIAGE RECORDS: During the colonial period, the law required a true and perfect parish register. After 1780, ministers were required to report all marriages to the county court clerk whose duty it was to see that the returns were entered in a book kept for that purpose. In 1783 the law recognized that the scarcity of ministers in the western counties had produced a situation whereby not only dissenting ministers, but some magistrates and others had been induced to solemnize marriages. The amended act of 1784 removed the four ministers per denomination per county restriction for marriages and permitted any ordained minister to perform marriages. Also Quakers and Mennonites were permitted to marry under their own customs, but the clerk of the meeting was to make a return to the county clerk. The county record books which have survived are sometimes titled "Marriage Records" or " Marriage Registers," although they might contain only the entry of the marriage bond and not the actual return. HANDFAST: H/F after a person's name on birth and marriage records means "Handfast". Basically it is a sign of the confirmation of a type of "uncanonical, private or even probationary form of marriage". Handfasting was for announcing a union between a man and woman who wished to live together as husband and wife before receiving the blessing of the church. The couple would stand before a group of their peers, hold their clasped hands above their heads and state their intentions. The agreement was good for a year and a day or until the preacher came to perform the rites of the church. If at the end of the specified time, each wished to go his own way, they could do so with no ties. No matter what happened, any child born of a Handfast would inherit. SYMBOLIC CROSSROADS WEDDING: A crossroads wedding was one in which the marriage was held at a crossroads after the sun had set with the bride wearing only her shift. This was done to show she had no debts to bring to the marriage. Shirley Hornbeck -THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck> <http://www.genealogybookshop.com/genealogybookshop/files/General,General_Reference/9377.html> Shirley Hornbeck - www.s-hornbeck.com HORNBECK SURNAME RESOURCE CENTER: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/home.htm THIS & THAT GENEALOGY TIPS: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hornbeck/index.htm Order from: http://www.genealogical.com/products/This%20and%20That%20Genealogy%20Tips/9377.html