Marriage Allegations were involved whenever a marriage was by Bishop's Licence, recorded in the bishop's records, hence that's a place to look when a parish register indicates a marriage other than by Banns, or because no marriage record can be found in the couple's parish registers. It's church business, literally, as it provides the church for compensation for the hassles resulting if the marriage does not take place or must be vacated - lost fee(s) and extra work for which there is no standing fee schedule. An example is a licence to wed issued to a minor because of false representation of age which must be annulled with action taken for broken law(s).
The bishop's record will normally list all conditions imposed, what is alleged that was relied on by the bishop in making his decision, and the source and amount of the bond. Frequently, the couple will be given the option of two churches, neither of which need be the home parish of either. No data will be specified, but I think a time period may apply. The bond must be credible, so it infers the financial status of the bondsman, a third party suggesting a poor groom resorting to family support or services of a bondsman. Other information may be available through no other record. (Victorian era study, matching surviving Bishops Records at Wells, Somerset, to parish ones and vice versa parish "by Licence" records to Bishop's, concluded that as many as 50% of all marriage records were lost - and that was before WWII bombing burnt the county archives...) Two cases from my family: One Allegation asserted the bride's father's permission, giving her age as 27 and her surname, found nowhere else. Another Licence gave two parish options, neither the adjacent parishes of the couple, and that the bride was a widow. Follow up found the marriage record, then her earlier marriage at the same parish, giving her maiden name and family plus a different spelling for her first husband's surname and his home parish, where she later resided as a widow. Both husbands were of yeoman class with extended families 3 miles apart, so the Licence options of the bride's original parish or another NOT either home parish and inconveniently distant. That suggested a schism within the second husband's family, of which he was the heir, based on opposition to the widow. He and his son died nearly simultaneously, leaving a minor grandson who seems to have been dispossessed by family "management" of his patrimony. He moved away 50 or so miles at his majority and was the husband of the first allegation above. Jenny is probably right about the best place for such records in Legacy, as they are church business records, not religious ones. I couldn't agree more with wish for Legacy support regarding "what real UK sources are and what they reveal". That's probably too much to hope for as a program feature, but could something be seeded into a context sensitive Help menu? Or perhaps a link to an online web page discussing such? kb ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Fry" <mike...@iafrica.com> To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 9:09:44 AM Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Allegation & Bond On 2012/01/27 15:25, Jenny M Benson wrote: > The one I used for an Allegation is Marriage records>found in > Governmental records>Marriage licences, bonds, registrations etc>Loose > papers>Basic format. Hmm! Looks like an appropriate template, but these are really Church records, aren't they? Legacy knows nothing about the 'Other' England & Wales Church records. snip... Us UK-researchers miss out a bit when it comes to SourceWriter templates. There really should be some mechanism whereby we can 'teach' Millennia about what real UK sources are and what they reveal. -- Regards, Mike Fry Johannesburg Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
