Abstracted from the records in the Clerk's Office of Westmoreland County, this work contains a list of about 2,500 marriage bonds showing the names of approximately 6,000 brides, grooms, parents and sureties, the exact date of each bond, and, in some instances, the contracting parties' dates of birth and the place of marriage. With a brides' index.

The major part of this work is an alphabetically arranged and cross-indexed list of some 20,000 Maryland families with references to the sources and locations of the records in which they appear. In addition, there is a research record guide arranged by county and type of record, and it identifies all genealogical manuscripts, books, and articles known to exist up to 1940, when this book was first published. Included are church and county courthouse records, deeds, marriages, rent rolls, wills, land records, tombstone inscriptions, censuses, directories, and other data sources.

Northumberland County had no marriage register before 1850, so these records, gathered from loose papers in the County Clerk's Office, are unique. About 3,000 marriage bonds are listed, giving the names of about 7,500 brides, grooms, parents and sureties, and the bond date. In a good many instances, proof of marriage is shown by the "consent" of either the contracting parties themselves or their parents, in some cases giving the dates of birth and the place of marriage. There is an index of brides' names.