Marriage licenses are the most common public document.  They are frequently used in genealogy searches because they not only confirm a marriage between two people and the legitimacy of their children.

Find a Maiden Name

They are often a way to discover maiden names.  When tracing back your family roots, being able to track back the birth records and family connection on the female side is just as important as the male side.

Every state, and most territories, keeps records going back as far as 150 years.  These records can be requested in writing from the vital statistics bureau.  Costs for these searches vary from state to state.

Requesting Marriage Records

To request records you need to know the year of the marriage and at least one correct name.  To reduce the possibility of acquiring the wrong record, especially if you are searching for a common name, try to get as much information about the individuals as you can.

Online services now have access to public records.  For a small fee they will run a database search on the information you have provided.  They can often cross reference the search and provide additional documents like a birth certificate, divorce papers or death certificate as well as the marriage license.

Annual Membership to Online Records

Pricing structures for the various documents vary from firm to firm.  Your best bet, if tracing your ancestry, is to opt for an annual membership that allows you to search as many documents as you want.

Some Marriage Records are Just Lost

It is important to note that not all marriage licenses are available.  For any number of reasons, licenses weren’t always issued, and some were lost before they arrived at the proper location.  Traveling preachers were notorious for losing documents, and in the frontier days formal marriages weren’t always possible.

You may have to establish a marriage through other means such as newspaper articles or probate papers, and those are likely to require a personal search on location. Nonetheless, an online database will likely be the best way to start your search for marriage licenses quickly.

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