An important document in pursuing our family history is a marriage record. But where do we find them? How do we look for them? Marriage records sometimes contain minimal amount of information, just the bride and groom’s names. Check out our previous post. Other records show parents of the bride and groom (especially church records). Some records have addresses which can lead you to other records such as some of the attendants at the wedding are siblings to the bride and groom.
First, you need to have a general idea of where the couple married, particularly the county and the state. Several of my family members married in Jackson County, Missouri, and I was particularly lucky that Jackson County has marriage records online with a free search feature. The site has marriage records dating back to beginning of 1826 with a free print feature.
I found my great grandparents marriage record, and it showed they were married at the Catholic Cathedral in Kansas City Missouri. My next step was to contact the Cathedral for the marriage record in their archives and they had it. Send marriage records under separate email. I was fortunate that my ancestors married in the Catholic church as the church keeps records dating back many years.
But what if there is no church record? I searched for a marriage record for my 3rd great grandfather in eastern Tennessee. I was not sure which county the marriage occurred, which necessitated visits to 3 different courthouses in close vicinity. My husband and I entered a beautiful courthouse in eastern Tennessee and went straight to the Clerk of Deeds (which is where marriage records are kept). I asked about a marriage in the mid 1830s and where I could find the record.
The clerk directed us to a huge walk-in vault. We searched through huge books of records with no luck. As we were walking out of the vault, I spotted a shoe box on the floor with papers stuffed in it. We searched through the shoebox and it was full of very old marriage records, just sitting on the floor. I was stunned. I did find my 3rd great grandparents marriage license dated 1837.
I know that many counties do not have the funds to microfilm or digitize all their records, but this was a shock to me. I hope the records survive another 150 years.
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