how to find marriage records

How to Find United States Vital Records
1. U.S. Birth Records 2. U.S. Marriage Records 3. U.S. Death Records

How to Find United States Marriage Records [edit | edit source]

To find a marriage record, choose the state where the marriage occurred:

What if you don't know the state? — Go to How to Estimate Marriage Information

How to find US birth records
How to find US death records

Marriage Records [edit | edit source]

A valuable source for genealogists is the Marriage Record. Churches and governments often kept marriage records before they documented other life events. Whether a civil or church authority performed the ceremony, local laws usually required that the marriage be recorded in civil records. Marriage has always been a very public covenant, recorded in a variety of ways.

These records are usually stored with the clerk of the town or county where the bride resided, but some particularly early ones may be housed in the state's archives and more recent ones may be found in the state's Division of Vital Records. You may find records that show a couple's intent to marry in addition to the records of the actual marriage

For more information about using marriage records effectively, click here.

Records of Intention To Marry [edit | edit source]

Various records may have been created that show a couple's intent to marry.

Marriage Banns [edit | edit source]

Marriage banns are the public announcement of an intended marriage. Banns and intentions were made a few weeks before a couple planned to marry. The couple may have been required to announce their intentions in order to give other community members the opportunity to raise any objections to the marriage. This was a rather common custom in the southern and New England states through the mid-1800's. Traditionally the announcement of an impending wedding would be announced in the church for three weeks prior to the event.

Banns were a religious custom in which the couple announced to their local congregation that they planned to marry. They may have also posted a written notice at the church. Intentions were written notices presented to the local civil authority and posted in a public place for a given period of time. The minister or town clerk recorded these announcements in a register, or you may find them interfiled with other town or church records.

Marriage Bonds [edit | edit source]

Marriage bonds are written guarantees or promises of payment made by the groom or another person (often a relative of the bride) to ensure that a forthcoming marriage would be legal. The person who posted the bond was known as the surety or bondsman. The bond was presented to the minister or official who would perform the ceremony. The bond was then returned to the town or county clerk. These documents were frequently used in the southern and middle-Atlantic states up to the mid-1800's.

Applications and Licenses [edit | edit source]

Applications and licenses are the most common types of records showing intent to marry. These gradually replaced the use of banns, intentions, and bonds. A bride and groom obtained a license to be married by applying to the proper civil authorities, usually a town or county clerk. These records have the most information of genealogical value, including the couple's names, ages, and residence. Later records also provide their race, birth dates, occupations, and usually the names of the parents. The license was presented to the person who performed the marriage and was later returned to the town or county clerk. Applications for a license are primarily a twentieth-century record. These often contain more detailed information than the license.

Consent Papers [edit | edit source]

Consent papers may be available if the consent of a parent or guardian was required, often when the bride or groom was underage. The consent may have been verbal or written on the license or bond.

Contracts or Settlements [edit | edit source]

Contracts or settlements are documents created for the protection of legal rights and property. These are occasionally a part of a marriage application, especially in regions that were colonized by France or Spain.

Records of Marriages [edit | edit source]

In most cases it can be assumed that the couple married a short time after announcing their intent, even though you may not find proof of the actual marriage. A minister, justice of the peace, military officer, ship officer, or state official could legally marry a couple. You may find the following records that document the actual marriage:

Certificates [edit | edit source]

The individual who performed the ceremony or the civil office where it was recorded may have given the couple a certificate of marriage. This may be in the possession of the family. The clerk of the court may have a copy.

Returns and Registers [edit | edit source]

Town and county clerks generally recorded the marriages they performed in a register or book. If the marriage was performed by someone else, such as a minister or justice of the peace, that person was required to report, or "return", the marriage information to the town or county clerk. This information may have been reported in writing or verbally or, more frequently, the official recorded the event on the license or bond and returned this document to the clerk. For this purpose, many licenses and bonds were printed with a separate section of the document designated as the "return."

The information on the return usually included the names of the couple, the date and place of the marriage, and the name of the person who performed the marriage. Twentieth-century returns often add the residence of the couple, the names of the parents or witnesses, and the certificate number.

The town or county clerk recorded ("registered") the marriage returns in a separate register or book, although you may find some early returns in court or town minutes and deed books. He may also have written on the license or the bond the date he registered the marriage.

Twentieth-century marriages are still registered by the county or town, but most states now require the counties to report the marriages to the state office of vital records. Many counties keep duplicates of the records they send to the state.

Personal Records of the Individual Who Performed the Ceremony [edit | edit source]

Before the twentieth century, the information on many marriages was not returned. If evidence of a marriage was not presented to a civil clerk, this information might be found only in the personal journal or other records of the official who performed the marriage.

Things you may find in Marriage Records [edit | edit source]

Age at time of marriage
Church of marriage ceremony
County where the marriage took place
Date and/or place of birth for bride and groom
Date of the marriage
Full names of bride and groom
Name of minister or priest
Names and birthplaces of the bride's and groom's parents
Names of the witnesses to the marriage, often relatives
Occupation
Residence of the parties
Whether single, widowed or divorced

How Information from Marriage Records can Help Research [edit | edit source]

Marriage records can help you find the following information:

Addresses to assist in researching deeds or city directories, locate on maps, or narrow your search in an un-indexed census
Birth date and/or place to research for the bride and groom
Church records for the marriage
Determine which children belong to which mother in the case of multiple marriages
Information about previous marriages
Maiden name for a woman
Newspaper announcement
Parents' names (and possibly birth places) to research

Places to look for Marriage Records [edit | edit source]

Church records of marriages
City and County civil registrations
Family Bibles and personal histories
Google and other web site search sites, and don't forget to search Google Books
Locating United States Vital Records
Newspapers often listed articles about marriages
Obituaries sometimes give marriage dates
Online records sites like Ancestry, Fold3, World Vital Records, Heritage Quest...
State Archives
Submitted genealogies posted by others UsGenWeb, Genealogy links, Gengateway, Usgennet, FamGen, Rootsweb, Genealogy.com, MyTrees.com, Ancestry.......
Gretna Greens in the United States. When an eloping couple's marriage is not in their home county, search for it in alternate places like out-of-state counties.^[1]

Places to Search for a Maiden Name [edit | edit source]

Family Bibles and personal histories
Cemetery records burial, sexton, purchase and maintenance of plot, headstone
Census records Federal and State
Church records death, marriage and christening, membership
Death records, certificates (Church and Civil)
Land records deeds, morgages
Marriage records application, license, certificate (Church and Civil)
Military records service and pension, enlistment
Naming patterns are names passed on as a given or middle name, name multi generational
Newspapers birth, marriage and death announcements, society pages

Tips [edit | edit source]

Marriages may have been documented and recognized by both a civil and a church authorities, the civil process may include applications, license and certificate, the church records may include marriage register and ministers records.
Witness to the marriage may prove to be related to the bride and groom.
An announcement of the marriage may have been placed in a local newspapers and church publications, Probate records and wills.

Websites [edit | edit source]

FamilySearch is a free website with indexes and some images to many Family History Library vital records collections.
GenWed is a free genealogical research database for marriage records and a directory to other marriage records online for the United States.
Vitalrec.com is a comprehensive resource for locating vital records.
Ancestry.com Selected marriage records for some states and particular time periods. ($)

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

United States Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

Sources [edit | edit source]

↑ Arlene H. Eakle, "Have you searched and searched for a marriage without finding it?" in Genealogy Blog at http://www.arleneeakle.com/wordpress/2007/02/19/have-you-searched-and-searched-for-the-marriage-without-finding-it/ (accessed 8 January 2011).