USA Marriage Records

USA Marriage Records "Free & Online"

The study and investigation into your Family Genealogy, Family Search, and USA Marriage Records takes a lot of your time and is a huge project!

USA Marriage records are primary source genealogy records because they are completed at, or close to, the time of the marriage by someone who was present at the marriage. A marriage certificate is usually signed by the person who performed the marriage. Marriage certificates are especially valuable to genealogists because they prove that our ancestors were legally married.

Find Your Family Name In Historical Documents

Marriage licenses are the most common marriage records in the United States. The marriage certificates were generally given to the couple after the ceremony and are usually found among family records.

USA Marriage Record researchers should conduct a family search for a marriage license in the town or county clerk's office in the locality where the couple was living at the time, or if they resided in different localities, search in the bride's county or town of residence. These records usually have the most information of genealogical value, including the couple's names, ages, residences, race, birth dates, occupations and usually the names and maybe even birthplaces of the parents.

... links to the Individual States are further down the page ...

Family records (Bibles, diaries, journals, widows' pension application files, etc.) may yield marriage documents. In addition, military pensions and applications for military pensions may include affidavits of eyewitnesses as to when and where a wedding took place, or statements by family members who attended the wedding or knew the couple for years. Marriages were often performed by military and ship's officers and were recorded in ships' logs, daybooks, and private journals.

Search US Federal Census Records starting in 1850 are a valuable source for evidence of marriage, as are census records of other countries, but be careful about making assumptions based on these records. Men often married women of the same given name.

Find Your Ancestors In History

Cemetery records may be used for evidence pertaining to a marriage also; and don't forget to check old newspapers, city directories, voting registers, funeral records, and land title insurance company records, as well as records of fraternal lodges and hereditary societies.

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