John Pearce and Darkey, marriage registration, 1866

Husband

John Pearce

Wife

Darkey

Registered

24 April 1866

Together since

1857

Record

Orange County Freedmen's Marriage Book (cohabitation register), 1866, page 24

Under a state law of 1866, couples who had lived together as husband and wife while enslaved went before the county clerk or a justice of the peace to register their marriages. This couple told the clerk when their union began.

The names of both partners also link to a search of the earlier records, but a matching first name is not proof that a record names the same person.

Source

• Mark Chilton, Jumped the Broom (Wandering through the NC Piedmont, 2022), his transcription of the Orange County Freedmen’s Marriage Book.