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Know all men by these presents, That we
Archibald Bean and George Shires
_________________are held and firmly bound unto
______________________the Commonwealth of Virginia,
in the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Dollars, to which payment well and
truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, &c. jointly and severally firmly
by these presents. Sealed with our seals, and dated this 1st day of
January 1849.
The conditions of the above obligations is such, That whereas the above
bound Archibald Bean ______ hath this day obtained
from the Clerk of the County Court of Monroe, a Licence
for his marriage with Amanda Shires ______daughter
of John Shires ______ of said county. If therefore
there be no lawful cause to obstruct said marriage, then the above obligation
to be void.
TESTE
Geo.W.Hutchinson DC Archibal M Been (sic) [SEAL]
George W. Shiers (sic) [SEAL]
The signatures for both Archibald Bean and George Shires appear to have been written by the same individual. And since both names have been mis-spelled, I feel it is safe to assume that neither of the two men wrote the signatures. [I have examples elewhere of the pairs signatures, and it is plain that both men knew how to spell and write their own names. Both were lieterate and intellectual. So, it remains unknown as to why neither applied their own signatures. Another mystery in this journey of uncovering our family history!
