Hello David Thanks for the reply - further comments below > From: David Gobbitt <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Cc: ""Peter J Richardson"" <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, 17 June 2012, 20:02 > Subject: Re: Norfolk (and Suffolk) marriage licence records - new guide > > Hello Peter > > I'd be interested to learn more about the index you found. It says that it was printed out in 1989 and a copy given to each of the Suffolk Record Offices. I was in the position of finding the marriage between George SHERMAN and Sarah CHASTON and then looking for the licence bond and not finding it at Bury St Edmunds. I can then see that the print out gives you an alternative to the "marriage bond hasn't survived" scenario which has been put to me by staff at both Bury and Ipswich in the past when I have looked for licence bonds and not found them. I'm not sure what happened to the Suffolk copies of the index because it has never been suggested to me as an option when looking for licences in Suffolk. In the case of George SHERMAN it occured to me that the licence might have been issued in Norfolk only when I discovered that his will was proved through the NCC. > The MLB > references are the box numbers (not bond numbers) allocated by the Norfolk > Record Office. The online catalogue (NROCAT - > http://nrocat.norfolk.gov.uk/DServe/public/searches/nroadvanced.htm) has > these > dates for the MLB CatalogueRef numbers you noted: > > 1760 - MLB 64 (and MLB 63) > 1764 - MLB 71 (and MLB 70) > 1770 - MLB 82 (and MLB 83) > 1772 - MLB 86 (and MLB 87) > 1773 - MLB 89 (and MLB 88) > 1789 - MLB 114 That makes sense, thanks. I'd guessed that the numbers might be broadly sequential I would say that if you are looking for licence bonds at the NRO you are not offered boxes - they are on microfiche by year, and you have the same needle in a haystack scenario that you do with the LDS images. > That may not be a great help to you. Fortunately, there is a shortcut. The > Suffolk Family History Society recently published an index on CD for > marriages > in Hartismere, Hoxne, South Elmham and Wangford Deaneries 1754-1812, > including > this one: > > 4 Jan. 1769 William SHARMAN [not SHERMAN] of Occold m. Mary MAYHEW at > Wilby Many thanks - you have found my missing marriage! > It's also in the FamilySearch database > (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NFK2-ZZN) where the film number > (1595682) > confirms that the source is an NCC bond or allegation from 1768-1769, > sadly with > very little else to narrow down the search for the original. Thanks. It turns out that it is image 28 and 29 of the 1769-70 batch. Fortunately for me I stated at 1 rather than 457! :-) > There is a similar > entry for the Jan. 1770 marriage of George SHERMAN and Sarah CHASTON from > the > next film (1595683), which is dated 1770-1772 in the list at > https://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=437050&disp=Marriage+licence+bonds%2C+1557-1902. > Thanks I'll save that for another day. I notice that there are the following dated offered 1768 1768-1769 1768-1772 1769 1769-1770 1770-1771 1771-1772 For my 1770 marriage there seem to be three different sets of images (assuming no duplication between the three sets) and for a 1769 marriage there would be four different options one of which has a daunting 1075 images to look through! Regards Peter