Wales, Marriage Bonds - FamilySearch Historical Records

Wales

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains marriage bonds from several different churches in each county in Wales from 1650 to 1900. The original records are kept at the National Library of Wales.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
The following information is usually found in these records:
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Full names of bride and groom
 * Full names of parents

How Do I Search the Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:


 * Name of the person
 * Approximate date of the marriage

Search the Index
Search by name by visiting the Collection Page.
 * 1) Fill in the search boxes on the Collection Page with the information you have
 * 2) Click Search to show possible matches

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Make sure to fully transcribe and cite the record entry for future reference. See below for assistance in citing this collection. Save or print a copy of the image if possible.
 * Be careful using the listed age to estimate a birth year. Rather than listing actual ages, clerks often wrote in 21 as the age of both the bride and groom to show that they each were of legal age.
 * If in the appropriate period, use the information which has been discovered to find the individual in civil records. Particularly useful for research in nineteenth-century Wales are the Wales Census and the Wales Civil Registration records.
 * Continue to search the index to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Note that family members often appear on an individual's vital records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage.

I Can’t Find The Person I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * When looking for a person with a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which individual is correct. Use other information, such as place of birth, age, occupation, or names of parents, to determine which candidate is the correct person. If listed, a personal title may be a clue to property ownership or occupation, either of which might be noted in other records.
 * Check for variants of given names, surnames, and place names. Transcription errors could occur in any handwritten record; also, it was not uncommon for an individual be listed under a nickname or an abbreviation of their name. See Abbreviations Found in Genealogy Records for examples of common abbreviations. Note that some women reverted to their maiden name when their husband died, and therefore could be buried under their maiden name.
 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible candidates which can then be examined for matches.

Citing this Collection
Proper citations make it easier to get back to sources that you have found, so citing sources properly can help you keep track of research. Correct citations also allow others to check completed research by giving them a way to find and examine records for themselves.

Below are the proper citations to use for this whole collection as well as for individual records within it:

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):