Marriage records include licenses, applications, certificates, or registers. Marriage licenses granted a man and woman official permission to marry each other, or for a minister or magistrate to perform such a marriage. Licenses and certificates generally provide the date of the marriage, the name of the person performing the rites, and the names of the parents. Please note that we do not have licenses or certificates for every county, but we should have marriage registers for every county. Marriage registers are records of marriages performed within a given jurisdiction, and typically do not list parental information.
Descriptions of original marriage records held by the State Archives are summarized in the online catalog. Lists of marriage records for select counties are also available. Marriage records or indices to marriages may also be available on third party websites. Most marriage records from 1868-2011 are available on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
