Can anyone help me understand what the abbreviation B.D. means in the attached image of my 2nd Great Grandparents marriage record?
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1 Answer
I think B.D. is an abbreviation for By Dispensation.
You may be able to locate a separate Dispensation Record.
From What is a Dispensation Record?:
Marriage Dispensations were issued if there was a question about a couple seeking to get married in a Catholic church by a priest. Then the matter would go before the bishop of the diocese. At that point a dispensation (permission) would or would not be granted for the marriage to be performed. In essence, a dispensation was an exception to what was normally forbidden by church law.
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Reasons for a dispensation range from the couple being distantly related (consanguinity), an issue with the reading of the marriage banns in church or bringing a common-law marriage into a church marriage.
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1A common reason for needing a dispensation was that bride & groom were cousins. Commented Jan 1 at 23:03
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That is interesting indeed because I have reason to believe the bride was 31 years younger than the groom (16 vs. 47 years of age) ... also it appears that the bride's father may have been married to his niece. Commented Jan 3 at 19:20