Marriage: Two Family Trees Become One
Marriage is a beautiful thing. Not only does it signify love and commitment, it combines two families into one. The marriage certificate may also provide wonderful genealogical information, if you take the time to review it.
As always, start with your personal archives, the documents your family already has in their possession. A marriage certificate is a sacred document and most people save them. Ask family members if they have the marriage certificate for your parents or grandparents.
To clarify, the marriage license date is the day permission was obtained to marry. The day the vows are taken and the minister or officiant signs the document is the marriage date. There could be many days or months between the two dates. Sometimes the wedding is called off after the license is obtained and the marriage never takes place. In some cases authorities may stamp the license to serve as the official certificate or they may issue a separate marriage license with an official seal and stamp. The process varies over time and locations.
If you live in or near the same county your ancestors lived, visit the local courthouse to request a copy of the marriage license/ certificate. If not, ask a relative to go for you or contact that courthouse to request copies. Due to segregation, many courthouses separated African American records in their files, catalogs and books. Be sure to ask, if you don’t see your ancestors in the records.
Ancestry.com and FamilySearch will usually have a copy of a marriage license, certificate or the marriage index. The marriage index is the basic information of names, date and county issuing the license. This information is useful, however obtaining a copy of the actual license/certificate is more beneficial.
A few key points to look for on the marriage certificate include the complete name of the bride and groom. People will often use their full names on this document. You may find out Grandpa Henry’s real name is John Henry Smith. Document this information for future reference. The bride may use a different surname, which could indicate she was married before or she has a different father than you expected. Record and research that possibility to be sure.
The date of a marriage might be a clue to parentage. If you notice children in the home who were born long before the marriage date, perhaps they were born to the couple prior to their marriage or this may be a blended family. The children could be from a previous relationship of the father or mother.
Some licenses require age and birthplace. This is a good source for birth data, if you’ve been unable to locate it elsewhere. If either was underage, a parent was required to give permission for them to marry. Of course, we all know many people gave the wrong age in order to marry and in some cases they ran away to a nearby county or state to wed. If you don’t find your ancestor in the county marriage records, check nearby counties or states.
The minister and witnesses on the marriage license are usually members of the community, family, church or good friends. Research all of these individuals to determine how they connect to your family. You may be surprised at what you find.
In cases where there are several people with the same name, look for a notation of race. For African Americans you will often see (Col) for Colored or (Neg) for Negro somewhere on the document. You will also see African Americans legalizing their “slave marriages” once they were emancipated. A reminder that even under the harshest conditions, love can be found.
Keep in mind some marriages may have not been filed with the courthouse. Maybe they married in their local church and never completed paperwork or it was lost. The couple could have had a common law marriage, again with no paperwork. Some never divorced a previous spouse and just lived with the next person. In the past, it was easy to move to a new town, change your name, marry and start over.
Whatever you find, please share it with your family.
We are researching the 435 Freedmen who migrated from Kingstree, South Carolina to Marlin, Texas in 1867. If you want more information on those Freedmen or believe you may descend from them, please contact us. Sharon at Sharon.kay@sbcglobal.net or Angela at honey_be_2001@yahoo. com.