This important book of 104 pages lists over 9,000 marriages prior to 1800. The author produced this work to further the project begun by Herbert Webb Gillman of indexing all the marriage licence bonds for the entire county of Cork. Gillman published an index for the Diocese of Cork & Ross for the years 1623-1750 in 1896, but died shortly thereafter. Green took up the task of indexing the other major Cork diocese, that of Cloyne, which was published in 1899, and is reproduced here in digital format. Green's work is based on the index that existed at the Public Records Office in Dublin prior to its destruction in 1922. As a consequence it has added value in being the only surviving index to these records. The importance of marriage licence bonds as a genealogical source was well described by Gillman in the introduction to his Index: "In the absence of Parish Registers and of Marriage Licence Grants, the next best evidence (which in such absence becomes then primary presumptive evidence) is a Marriage Licence Bond. Such a bond had to be entered into before a Bishop would grant his licence for a proposed marriage, because the Bishop was open to an action for damages if he issued a licence for the solemnisation of a marriage against which there existed some 'canonical let or impediment', or some other legal objection, such as a pre-contract of one of the parties to marry some other person; and so, to protect himself, the Bishop required two solvent persons, of whom the intending bridegroom was generally one, to enter into a bond for the sum stated therein - generally proportioned to the status of the parties - that there existed no such impediment or objection." Thomas George Hennis Green (1864-1926) was an active member of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, the Royal Society for Antiquaries of Ireland and was a member of the Royal Irish Academy. His great interest was Cork history and genealogy, and he was also the author (jointly with Henry Biddal Swanzy of the book "The family of Green of Youghal, Co. Cork; being an attempt to trace the descendants of Simon Green, merchant" (1902) This is an essential resource for those studying family history in County Cork.
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