The following is an excerpt from the upcoming issue of Discovering Family History

I Do! Gleaning Clues From Marriage Records
Donna Murray looks at what you can learn from the paperwork of your ancestor's nuptials.

Whether it’s a shotgun wedding, a marriage of convenience or the blissful union of two people in love, the grand event generates both a marriage license application (or record) and a certificate. The terms are not synonymous. And it’s the government document, not the certificate, that contains the most useful genealogical data.

Depending on the timeframe and the state, it’s possible that the government records will yield such valuable data as the woman’s maiden name, the names of the parental units, the couple’s residences at the time of the marriage and the birth place of both the bride and the groom. More on that later. First a little history.

Marital Laws Change With the Times
One of the most important things to keep in mind as you begin your search for marriage documents is that each state enacted its own laws and processes governing matrimony. No universal statement can be made, as to when the governmental recording of marriages began or what data is contained in the documents. Therefore, it’s up to the researcher to ferret out what can be had in a specific state and/or county.

In Virginia, for instance, the first definitive laws governing marriage were enacted in 1632, but the General Assembly didn’t require the systematic statewide recording of vital statistics until 1853. Enforcement was hit or miss until after the Revolutionary War.

Some states began keeping records in the early 1800s, such as Lucas County, Ohio and Will County, Illinois, which date back to 1835 and 1836, respectively. Others waited until the late 1800s. A few states didn’t even exist until nearly the turn of the century — Montana acquired statehood in 1889 and New Mexico in 1912 — while Alaska and Hawaii entered the union in 1959.

Laws governing the unions of indentured servants, slaves and interracial marriages also played a part in America’s marital history, and they were routinely added or repealed depending on the cultural and political climate.

In more recent times, the mandatory waiting period between the time the couple sought a license and the wedding — which ranged from between three to six days — has been dropped by many states. Intended to prevent the spread of venereal disease and preclude illegal marriages, the provision often drove couples to neighboring states, which had no such regulation, to get hitched.

Today, the big issue is same-sex marriages. It’s interesting to imagine the next generation of rooters as they try to figure out how “Mary” ended up with two parents of the same gender!

Early Marriage Records
Early on, a couple’s intention to get married may have been publicized through marriage banns or a marriage bond. Marriage banns are the public announcement during church services, either verbally or in writing that a marriage is going to take place between two specific people. A marriage bond was a big chunk of money posted with the county clerk by the groom or by relatives of the couple in advance of the marriage.
Like the formal application for a marriage license that came later in the 1800s, the purpose of banns and bonds was to ensure that both people were eligible to marry.

Since few of these documents survive, a researcher’s best bet is to look for records generated by the county, town clerk or municipal services center. Larger cities, such as New York City, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, often maintained separate records.

Most of the time, you’ll find these records at the local government office or at the state archives. Occasionally, they turn up at the local historical society or public library. The quickest way to determine what records are available and where they are housed is to visit websites hosted by the county and the state archives...

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