All of the early Davidson County marriage bonds and licenses were destroyed by fire, but the first two volumes of marriage registers compiled from the original bonds and licenses are intact. They cover January 1789-December 1837, and January 1838-December 1847. The abstracted records cover about 7,000 marriages, and they are in the order of their appearance in the registers, each beginning with the groom's surname. The rest of the entry is the name of the bride, the issue date of the bond or license, sometimes the marriage date, and the name of the officiating minister or J.P. All brides and grooms are listed in the index.