In September of 1996, I obtained Internet access at home for my son, and soon found I enjoyed searching web sites of interest to me. My brother suggested the USGenWeb Project. I looked for distant counties I needed to research, and saw much promise in this fledgling project.

By November 1996, I had time to sit back and look over the pages for my home area of Rockbridge County, Virginia at http://www.rootsweb.com/~varockbr/rock.htm. Yvonne James-Henderson of Burke, Virginia had done a fabulous job with those pages. I contacted her via email and began submitting local history articles for the Rockbridge County VAGenWeb pages in hopes of helping other researchers.

My primary interest in the USGenWeb Project at http://www.usgenweb.org was the archives, which houses transcribed documents. I saw great potential in this treasury of information as a resource for genealogists. The Rockbridge Archives were small, and wanting them to grow more quickly, I began to submit transcriptions of documents which I already had in my computer. What better way to make something grow than to feed it?

I began corresponding with Linda Lewis, the Archives File Manager for the State of Virginia, and for the USGenWeb Project Archives. I indicated to her I would love to see some scanned original documents in the Archives and was willing to undertake this task if I had web space and funding for the necessary equipment. Linda contacted Dr. Brian Leverich of Rootsweb and he agreed to supply web space if I could get permission and funding to scan the original marriage bonds in Rockbridge County, Virginia..

I asked the Clerk of Court, Bruce Patterson, for permission to scan these documents and place them online. He graciously agreed, knowing this would help to preserve the original documents and make them more widely available to researchers.

Now I needed funding. I began looking at grants for which I might apply. I announced my ideas (via the Internet) to the Rockbridge County List, which is also a part of the USGenWeb Project. I told them I was seeking funds to make this project come to life. Several of the list members made donations to help get the project going. Marilyn Headley of Midlothian, Virginia responded that she had been offered a grant by the Golden Rule Foundation. The Golden Rule Foundation locates people to whom they wish to offer assistance in making the world a better place, generally distributed for the arts and environmental issues. This particular grant covered equipment only, with no compensation for time, so Marilyn and I agreed to volunteer our time.

Marilyn and I gathered facts and figures for the grant application. We needed a supporting organization with 501c3 status to handle our grant funds should we be awarded the grant. The 501c3 status is granted to qualifying non-profit organizations and allows tax deductions to donors of their organization. The group with which I closely work, Rockbridge Area Genealogical Society, had not yet applied for this status. We turned to the Rockbridge Historical Society for help. Dr. Bill Watt, President of the Society, called the Board together and they graciously agreed to assist us. We applied for and received the Golden Rule Foundation grant in October 1997.

The necessary equipment such as scanners, computers, zip drives, and such was purchased and our work began at the courthouse. We accessed the 1778-1801 marriage bonds and their consents, filed them in archival, acid free sheet protectors, labeled the sheet protectors with acid free photographic markers, scanned them into the computers and made a database of all the brides, grooms, bondsmen, witnesses, and parents of the bride/groom.

We spent countless hours planning just how we would commence the project. Many more hours were put into scanning over 1,350 documents and creating the database. One should take into consideration before attempting such a project that images require a large amount of memory. We used zip drives to back up our project, but jaz drives or CDs would be preferable.

Next came the HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) process which is used to prepare the files for readability on the Internet. We uploaded the scanned bonds and consents onto Rootsweb, wrote a license agreement, made a brief introduction and opened an Alpha version of the site just before Christmas of 1997. In mid January of 1998, we finished the scanning and uploaded the final version of the site. This site may be accessed at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/va/rockbridge/license.html.

HTMLing that database was a challenge for which I wasn't certain I was ready. However, Microsoft Excel and the Internet Wizards in that program made it a snap. Our main index, the one with usable links, was created by placing asterisks (*) after the names of the bride and groom. We then did a global replace, adding the HTML (replacing http with (<)less than sign a href="http ) in front of the url and replacing the asterisks with the closing HTML ( ).

Our main goal in this project was the preservation of the original bonds, yet this project has been a true "hands on learning experience" for both Marilyn and me. We learned many new processes including scanning images, several new programs, and new equipment. We are currently mastering the art of writing CDs so offline researchers can also have access to the scanned marriage bonds.

The Clerk of Court liked the archival sleeves and the system we created. He is currently ordering more sleeves and will begin to protect more of the original bonds as his funds and time permit.

In the future, we hope to be able to scan more documents up to 1850 if funding can be procured. This project has brought us great personal satisfaction, yet we are most proud of the notes we have received from people all over the country who have found information previously unknown to them until they viewed their ancestor's marriage bonds and consents on the internet.

Marriage bonds were issued by the courts. A bridegroom signed a bond for a specified amount, usually fifty pounds, later one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00). He and his surety (bondsman) promised the Governor of Virginia he (the bridegroom) would hold up his end of the marriage contract and the marriage would be performed. A bond was similar to a legal promissory note to ensure the marriage would take place.

If the groom were to break this contract and not marry the intended bride, he would be required to pay to the state the amount of the bond. His surety was obligated to help him pay if that should be the case.

In Virginia, twenty-one was the legal age. In cases where the bride or groom was under the age of twenty-one, their parent(s) or guardians had to give consent for them to marry. Many of the marriage bonds carry consent of the parents and are generally signed by the parent/s and witnesses or other relatives.

Often affidavits accompany the marriage bonds. These affidavits serve as proof of age and are usually signed by a neighbor, relative, or another party well acquainted with the bride or groom.

All names in these marriage bonds, consents and affidavits are genealogical clues. Use them wisely and relationships can often be determined. Also note that original signatures are on these documents. You may be able to solve the "same name" problem with these documents. Perhaps there were two John Smiths in the area at the same time. Using the original signatures may help to distinguish one from the other.

Some interesting marriage bonds were found. One in particular is that of Beverly Ligon and Ruth Mathews, a mulatto [see figure 1]. The affidavit which accompanies the bond was given by Robert Saville who states "he had been acquainted with Jeff Mathews Deceased and Rachel Mathews his widow Mulattoes, late of the County of Chester & State of Pennsylvania and now of the aforesaid County of Rockbridge & State of Virginia upwards of 20 years past." He also says they were free persons, and not "considered or even suspected to be slaves." Rachel Mathews attached her mark to the consent allowing her daughter to marry Beverly Ligon [see figure 2].

In preserving these documents electronically, others can access documents they may not have known existed. Marilyn and I have already heard from many people across the country who have accessed the project online and were able to make family connections. We do hope others will begin records preservation in this manner. These old documents are quite fragile and need special handling. We should all do a little part to protect them so they and their images will be around for future generations.

Correction to the May/June 1998 NGS/CIG Digest
page 252, paragraphs 4 and 5

A letter from Mr. Robert I. Simkins has called attention to several sentences under the subheading "What Are Marriage Bonds" on page 252 of the May/June 1998 issue.

The sentences are, "A bond was similar to a legal promissory note to ensure the marriage would take place. If the groom were to break this contract and not marry the intended bride, he would be required to pay to the state the amount of the bond." These sentences are misleading and should be corrected so that they say, "A bond is sort of a legal promissory note to ensure the marriage was legal. If the bride or groom were already married, not of legal age, without proper consent, or some other cause, the marriage would not be legal. The bond insured that it was. If there was legal cause to void the marriage, the groom and his surety would have to pay the amount of the bond to the state."