marriage bond
Spousal legal connection
A marriage bond was a financial guarantee posted before a wedding, ensuring that no legal impediment to the marriage existed.
Common in England and colonial America from the 17th through 19th centuries, the bond obligated the groom or a third party to forfeit a sum if the marriage proved unlawful—if one party was already married, underage without consent, or too closely related.
Marriage bonds survive as valuable genealogical records: I found my ancestors' marriage bond in the county archives.
- wedlockState of being spouses
- holy matrimonySacred rite of spousal union
- vowSolemn personal commitment
- wedding vowsSpoken marriage commitments
- unionJoining into one
covenant · matrimony · commitment · tie · tying the knot · knot · pledge · fidelity · devotion · ring · wedding band · altar · eternal · sacred · oath · til death do us part · ceremony · lawfully wedded
- Biblical Marriagebride, husband and wife, bridegroom, groom, wives
- Marriage Documentswedding certificate, prenup, prenuptial agreement
- marriage annulmentannulment, nullity, church annulment, church court, dispensation
- weddingwedding, wedding ring, wedding ceremony, wedding rings, bride and groom
- Marriage Recordswedding date, maiden name, county records, state records, church records
marriage bonddivorce
Legal end of matrimony
annulment · divorce decree · separation · legal separation · singlehood
marriage bondengagement
Commitment to wed or attend
betrothal · courtship · dating · bachelorhood · spinsterhood
marriage bondisolation
Complete separation from others
solitude · divorce · separation · estrangement · alienation
marriage, bond, marry, married, marrying, marriageable, unmarried, remarry, remarriage