Vital records, as their name suggests, are connected with central life events: birth, marriage, and death. Maintained by civil authorities, they are prime sources of genealogical information; but, unfortunately, official vital records are available only for relatively recent periods. These records, despite their recent creation in the United States, are critically important in genealogical research, often supplying details on family members well back into the nineteenth century.
The registering of marriages and granting of divorces in the United States are quasi-religious, quasi-legal social functions that have been influenced by religious beliefs, custom, and English law since the earliest colonial settlements. The effective genealogist needs a complete understanding of the jurisdictions responsible for maintaining these records, the types of records kept by each jurisdiction, periods in which various types of records were maintained, the circumstances peculiar to each colony and state that created the necessity for registering marriages and divorces, and the factors that produced changes in these registrations.
A complication is the fact that the United States, unlike England and some European countries, does not have a national registration program. Instead, marriage registration is the responsibility of the individual states. Furthermore, marriage registration was never uniformly implemented among the states. Prior to state registration requirements, towns in New England and counties in the remainder of the nation were the primary jurisdictions charged with maintaining marriage records. Thus, records can ordinarily be found dating from when a town or county was created. Some states, however, such as Pennsylvania and South Carolina, have not required subordinate jurisdictions to keep marriage records until more recent times.
Vital Records, despite their relatively recent origin, are becoming increasingly useful to the genealogist and will become more valuable as generations pass. They have limitations, but they can be used effectively to support or disprove existing evidence, to clarify the direction of future research, and to contribute to a more complete genealogy.
Many British and European countries began keeping birth and death records nationally in the nineteenth century. Before then, churches maintained registers of christenings and burials, and colonial settlers in America brought British laws and customs with them. Thus, churches were initially the sole keepers of vital records; ministers in many colonies were required by law to report christenings and burials to civil authorities. In some areas, consequently, these events are recorded in both civil and church records. Eventually, some colonies, primarily those in New England, passed laws requiring local town or county clerks to maintain records of births and deaths. Massachusetts had the most comprehensive laws pertaining to birth and death registration, and many of its early records have been published.
During the nineteenth century, England and other European countries instituted national registration systems, primarily to compile medical statistics as information on epidemic diseases. The United States did not implement the practice until much later. The majority of the states did not require registration until the first quarter of the twentieth century, and then the responsibility for registering births and deaths was left to the individual states rather than the federal government, accounting for different starting dates and differences in the data called for. The earliest cities to require civil registration were New Orleans (1790), Boston (1848), Philadelphia (1860), Pittsburgh (1870), and Baltimore (1875).
Fourteen states also initiated registration before 1880:
Delaware: 1860
Florida: 1865
Hawaii: 1850
Iowa: 1880
Massachusetts: 1841
Michigan: 1867
New Hampshire: 1840
New Jersey: 1878
New York: 1880
Rhode Island: 1853
Vermont: 1770
Virginia: 1853
Wisconsin: 1876
Washington, D.C.: 1871
Contents of Birth Records
Early birth records gave little information beyond the name of the child, date and place of birth, and parents’ names. Some localities listed only the name of the father—particularly in early New England town and church records.
Early birth records are distressingly sparse, with a heavy concentration found in New England only. In the colonial period, church records that can serve as birth records were kept in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, with Virginia trailing far behind the others. Quaker records for all of the states mentioned above are far superior to most others, providing the exact dates of birth and death for members of that faith. They have been well preserved; many are included in William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 7 vols. (1969. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991–94), available in most genealogical libraries in the United States. Willard Heiss has expanded coverage for Indiana with seven additional volumes of Quaker entries. These books are also widely available.
By the mid-nineteenth century, birth records in the United States began to include more detailed information. Figure 3-3 is from the birth register of Kanawha County, West Virginia. All Virginia and West Virginia counties used this format beginning in 1853. Some entries in these registers list the mother’s maiden name instead of her married name—obviously helpful information in identifying the maternal ancestry of a child.
Early birth records can be obtained from town or county clerks in the area in which an ancestor was born. These records, too early to fall under the jurisdiction of recent privacy laws, are public records. However, when writing for a birth or death record, state your relationship to the ancestor of interest in case the clerk requires it. Your inquiry should indicate the specific record desired; give the ancestor’s full name and as much identifying information as possible (especially if the ancestor has a common surname). Providing the exact date of birth, if known, or an estimated five-year birth period is especially helpful. The average fee for birth or death records at the county level is seven dollars; send that amount with your request. If additional funds are required, the clerk will either request the balance in advance or send the material and ask you to forward the balance. Most jurisdictions will search their records for a five-year period, but few will search further unless specifically requested to do so.
The Genealogical Society of Utah has microfilmed birth records of thousands of towns and counties throughout the United States, concentrating heavily upon the states east of the Mississippi River. These microfilms are available at the Family History Library and upon request through its family history centers). The printed vital records of New England towns are also available at the Family History Library; those that have been microfilmed can be borrowed through the family history centers). The printed vital records of New England towns are also available at the Family History Library; those that have been microfilmed can be borrowed through the family history centers. Many state and local historical society libraries also have copies, and many of the larger metropolitan city libraries with genealogical collections, such as the New York Public Library and the Los Angeles Public Library, also have copies of these printed records. The Holbrook Research Institute, 57 Locust St., Oxford, MA 01540, has microfiche copies for those Massachusetts towns that were never printed; a price list is available on request.
Even though births were not widely recorded during the early years of America’s existence, those records that do exist may provide the only source of exact birth data for your ancestors. They should always be searched.
Modern (post-1910) birth records are maintained by the states. They are extremely valuable, but many researchers, learning birth information from home sources, fail to obtain birth certificates. This reluctance is most unfortunate and can result in an inaccurate or incomplete family genealogy. Modern birth records contain much more information than earlier records. Although birth certificates vary from state to state, most of them share much information in common.
Most modern birth records are protected by the privacy laws passed by the federal government during recent years. However, some states have allowed microfilming of births after masking entries for illegitimate and stillborn births.
Despite such gaps, these records are obviously useful. Most states require a request form to be completed before they will issue a copy or abstract of a birth certificate. Such a form will often request more information than you have, but you should fill it out as completely as possible, estimating dates and places as accurately as you can. Some states will search more than a five-year period, while others limit the search to a single, approximate year of birth. If the record cannot be found in the year listed, a few states refund the fee; most do not. Each request should state your relationship to the individual and the purpose for which you will use the data. Family history and genealogical research purposes are acceptable reasons in most states.
A rarely used form of birth record is the delayed birth certificate. When Social Security benefits were instituted in 1937, individuals claiming benefits had to document their births even if their states of residence had not required birth registration at the time of their births. The 1880 and 1900 federal census enumerations were partially or fully indexed to help provide this documentation. Another method was to file evidence as part of an application for a delayed birth certificate.
The individual applying had to submit a petition to the county court stating his or her name, address, date and place of birth; father’s name, race, and place of birth; and evidence to support the facts presented. The evidence could be in the form of a baptismal certificate, Bible record, school record, affidavit from the attending physician or midwife, application for an insurance policy, birth certificate of a child, copy of an application for a Social Security account number, or an affidavit from a person having definite knowledge of the facts.
Delayed birth certificates list vital information abstracted from the supporting evidence. Most states have delayed birth records, some of which are indexed and easily usable. Some delayed birth records have been filed for individuals born as early as 1840. These records are usually filed in the county where the individual applied—not in the county of birth. Though relatively uncommon, these records provide information about individuals and their parents for periods when vital records were not widely kept. The records and testimony used as supporting evidence for the document can lead you to other information sources and also show which relatives were living at the time the certificate was applied for.
Families in transition when children were born present a research problem. Often, a family moving when a child was born waited just long enough for the mother to recover and then moved to an adjoining town or state, where the infant’s birth was recorded. In such cases, if you move back in time from the known to the unknown, you will know where the birth was recorded when you may know nothing of where the birth occurred—so check the obvious; find out if the birth was recorded after the fact. The resulting document will give you the actual place of birth, and you can then make searches there also.
Contents of Death Records
Early death records in the United States provide little more than the name of the deceased, the date of death, and the place of death. Burial records contain basically the same information. Occasionally the record will list the name of the deceased’s spouse. These early records appear in town, county, and church records, most extensively in New England, where they were kept as late as 1900.
Death records of the nineteenth century are more detailed in many jurisdictions. They often include the name of the deceased, date, place, and cause of death, age at the time of death, place of birth, parents’ names, occupation, name of spouse, name of the person giving the information, and the informant’s relationship to the deceased. Race is listed in some records. Some southern states also note if the deceased was a slave.
Modern (post-1910) death records, though comparatively recent, are steadily increasing in value. People are living longer, and death records often provide information about birth as well as death.
Modern death certificates have not been standardized throughout the United states; but, like birth certificates, most of them contain the same types of information. They can include the deceased’s name, sex, race, date of death, age at the time of death, place of death, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, name of spouse, Social Security number, occupation, residence, father’s name, mother’s name, cause of death, and place of burial. Records from other states generally provide the birthplace of the deceased’s parents. The Social Security number is not always included, but, when it is, it can be invaluable because other records (subject to right-of-privacy laws) may be accessible if you have the Social Security number.
As any experienced researcher knows, death records are only as accurate as the knowledge of the person who provided the information. Many informants are unaware of the name of parents or are unsure about dates and places of birth. Always try to find additional information about parents and dates and places of birth whenever possible.
In response to a request, some states will supply a photocopy of the certificate filed at the time of death, while some make a transcript of the basic information on a preprinted form, certifying it as a true copy. A photocopy is much preferable. Not only does it eliminate the danger of errors in transcription; it will also include more data. The clues of cemetery, undertaker, informant, residence at time of death, and other details that take you from the death certificate to other records are found only on the original.
Death records are valuable corroborating evidence for family traditions handed down generation after generation without verification. They also help distinguish between two or more people with the same name. Death records, both early and modern, can help you identify others related to the decedent. The information provided in the records is usually given to the authorities by a close relative. If the relative is a married daughter, the record will state her married name. Aunts, uncles, in-laws, cousins, and other relatives are listed as informants on death records. Each new name is a clue to the identity of other ancestors that should be pursued.
The death record informant may not have been the person who provided vital statistics to the funeral director or to the cemetery sexton. The death certificate names both the funeral home and the place of burial, so check both the mortician’s records and the sexton’s records to confirm the information on the death record and to look for additional information not included in the death certificate. Once you know the exact date of death, you can more easily look for an obituary notice in a local newspaper. Obituaries usually at least summarize the deceased’s life, sometimes including other towns of residence. They may also list all of the living heirs, as well as the names of parents, brothers, and sisters. Tracking backward with these clues, you can look for other members of the family and additional historical information.
In short, you should routinely request birth and death records for ancestors who were born or who died during the period for which records are available in a particular locale. They are rich in genealogical information and may serve to clarify discrepancies in family records.
Problems With Vital Records
The use of vital records is not without its difficulties. The problem of informants being unaware of (or not knowing) dates and places of birth when providing death information has already been mentioned. Many record collections are incomplete, necessitating additional searches in other records to fill the gaps.
Legibility is also a problem in many handwritten records. It is sometimes worthwhile to ask for help from someone skilled in reading various types of handwriting when a certificate or register entry is not easily decipherable.
A third problem is that early records may contain a variety of surname spellings—none of them spellings currently used by branches of the family. Early record clerks, like early census enumerators, often spelled people’s names as they heard them pronounced. When looking for birth or death records from earlier periods, consider all possible spellings—especially phonetic spellings—before concluding that no record exists for an ancestor. This is especially important for urban areas, where more than one person having the same name is the rule rather than the exception.
A related problem is that records were often indexed many years after they were compiled. The person doing the indexing had to interpret the handwriting in the record just as the researcher must, and his or her skills may not have been well developed. The obvious errors in indexes are a T read as an F, a P as an R, and an L as an S. Take these possibilities into consideration, too, as you try to determine all the possible spellings of a surname.
Some researchers stop searching if they cannot find an ancestor’s name in an index. But some indexes have an error rate in excess of twenty-five percent, meaning that more than twenty-five percent of the individuals in the indexed records were not included in the index. If you know the approximate date of a birth or death, settle down to a page-by-page search before concluding that your ancestor is not in the records.
Legally restricted access represents an important limitation of modern vital records. Different states regulate in different ways who can have access to vital records and under what circumstances. Some new laws attempt to reduce the assumption of a false identity for fraudulent purposes (for example, assuming the identity of a deceased person to obtain credit cards to be used for defrauding merchants). Other laws protect the privacy of people still living. Regardless of the reasons behind such laws, you should research the access-restriction laws that exist in the states where you will be conducting research.
Finding Aids
There are numerous aids for locating vital records. Appendix F, Where to Write for Vital Records, is a good place to begin. Most towns and counties have indexes to birth and death records. Even if they are not complete, they can often facilitate research. Many local historical and genealogical societies have published birth and death records in their periodicals, newsletters, and journals; they should be examined whenever available. Family members may be able to send photocopies of birth and death records in their possession. It is worth a letter or telephone call to inquire.
Always check for duplicate copies at county, city, town, and state levels. Many counties kept vital records before the states did. After state registration began, counties and cities continued to maintain registers of vital events. If one set of records is lost or incomplete, you can check the other.
Marriage records in the United States have been, and in some cases still are, kept by churches, ministers, justices of the peace, state boards of health, colonial governors, military personnel, and local (county and town) governments.
State Boards of Health/Bureaus of Vital Statistics
The most important record-keeping agencies for marriages and divorces in the United States today are the state boards of health or bureaus of vital statistics (or their equivalents). Even though these agencies are primarily state bodies, large cities usually have their own registries. However, few states had them until after 1850. Vermont (1770) and Washington, D.C. (1811), were the first to form them; Colorado (1968) was the last. Even when the requirement existed, the laws were seldom enforced; consequently, many genealogists are reluctant to spend the time necessary to search for marriage records on file with these agencies for early periods. However, residents of heavily populated cities are not often mentioned in local histories or biographical publications. Quite often they can be found only in major record sources. Thus, it is imperative to search for whatever records may exist.
Colonial Governors
Many of the earliest marriage records were kept by the offices of colonial governors. While not numerous, many of these records are still in existence, usually in state archives. Some are now in print.
Military Personnel
Colonial, state, and federal military officers and ships’ officers (military and civilian) often performed marriages and recorded them in ships’ logs, daybooks, and private journals. Those records can be found among military records maintained by the federal government and in historical societies, libraries, and museums.
Town and County Governments
Town clerks in New England and county clerks elsewhere have been responsible for registering most marriages in the United States. Marriage records were kept in New England beginning in the 1600s and in the South beginning in the 1700s. Clerks issued documents granting permission for a couple to marry, and then they received notification that the ceremony had taken place from the ministers and justices of the peace in the towns or counties. The remainder of this chapter will discuss in detail the records on file in these town and county jurisdictions.
There is no uniformity among U.S. marriage records. Researchers should thus become familiar with the laws and customs of each area and time period to be researched. Some jurisdictions required more than one form of document, and the information required on different documents often varied. For [p.88] example, Kentucky marriage registers usually include the names of the bride and groom, the date and place of the marriage, and the officiating authority. The marriage license, issued as a separate record for the same couple, could also include residence, age, place of birth, names of parents, and occupation.
Churches
Churches were among the earliest keepers of marriage records. By 1640, Virginia and Massachusetts had passed laws requiring ministers to present records of the marriages they performed to civil officials in the county or parish. Records of marriages in areas that did not require periodic reporting remained with the minister or the church.
Many churches, especially in the frontier areas, did not keep extensive records, and many records have been lost or destroyed. New England churches, Quaker Monthly Meetings, and the German churches kept and have preserved the most complete records. (See also Research in Church Records)
Justices of the Peace
Most states have authorized the election or appointment of justices of the peace who can perform marriages. Like ministers, justices have also been required to submit records of the marriages they performed to civil authorities. Justices also maintained their own registers, often in the personal account books in which they recorded the fees paid. These sometimes contain marriage and other genealogical information not forwarded to the civil authorities and they should not be overlooked by the researcher, even when civil records are available. Justices’ registers can be found in the care of county clerks, local historical societies, libraries, and descendants of the justices themselves. Several are on microfilm at the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church), and some have been published by local genealogical societies.
The minimum legal age for marriage varies from one place to another. While some jurisdictions have required consent regardless of age most demanded consent affidavits from a parent or legal guardian only for those under the minimum age—usually twenty-one for males, eighteen for females. Sometimes a parent or guardian appeared with the underage person and gave verbal permission. The record will show that the parent was present and was known to the clerk but may not record the name. A detailed, printed consent form was part of the marriage license in a few localities.
The father of the underage person usually gave consent, especially in the South. When a mother has given consent, the father was likely deceased. When both parents were deceased, the legal guardian granted permission to marry. If the guardian is related to the person getting married, their relationship may be stated.
Consent documents are found in town and county jurisdictions throughout the United States, but they are more numerous in the South and former frontier regions, where early marriages were encouraged.
Declarations of Intent
Declarations of intent to marry have been required in one form or another in all colonies and states from colonial times. The practice may have been abandoned in a particular place for a period of time, only to be reinstated later. There are many types of declarations of intent, both written and oral.
Banns
The publishing of banns was a church custom during the colonial period. Banns were usually read in church on three consecutive Sundays (sometimes during public meetings); in some areas, they were posted in public places as well. Their purpose was to give local residents the opportunity to state their objections to a marriage.
Intentions
These records were similar to banns but were filed with the town or county clerk. Not generally read aloud, they were posted in public places for a prescribed period of time to give others the opportunity to voice objections to the union. Many intentions filed in New England have been published.
Bonds
Marriage bonds were not required by all colonies or states but have been common in the South. Bonds were posted prior to the issuing of the required marriage license in some states and were the sole documents required in others. Bonds were posted by the groom alone or with a second person, usually the father or the brother of the bride, to defray the costs of litigation in the event the marriage was nullified.
Bonds were posted in the jurisdiction where the marriage was to take place, often in the bride’s home county. These bonds, the only marriage records maintained in some jurisdictions, were usually annotated with the marriage date after the ceremony. It was rare for a marriage not to take place within a few days of the posting of the bond, even though many bonds do not bear the annotation. Although the missing information could mean that the marriage did not take place, more often it reflects poor record keeping or failure of the justice or minister to report the marriage to local officials.
Contracts
Marriage contracts are relatively uncommon. They were usually drawn up when one or more of the parties was wealthy or an heir to wealth and wished to protect the inheritance rights of heirs.
Marriage contracts have also been used in second marriages. Property left to a widow by her first husband could be protected with a marriage contract. Such documents guarantee the distribution of property to the children of the first husband. Without such a contract, the property inherited at the death of the first husband became the property of the second husband at the time of marriage. He could dispose of that property as he desired, without provision for his stepchildren. Marriage contracts are recorded among marriage records, filed in the court records, or with the deeds.
Marriage contracts were widely used in Louisiana during the colonial period. Under civil law, the French and Spanish used formal marriage contracts to protect their property, regardless of their social position or wealth. These documents are of unequaled value in genealogical research because they list extended family relationships and often the place of origin of the French immigrant ancestor.
Marriage Licenses
Marriage licenses are the most common marriage records in the United States. They are issued by the appropriate authority prior to the marriage ceremony, and they have come to replace the posting of banns and intentions. Marriage licenses, which grant permission for a marriage to be performed, are returned to civil authorities after the ceremony.
Applications for marriage licenses have been required in some jurisdictions in addition to or in place of bonds. Applications are often filled out by both the bride and groom and typically contain a large amount of genealogical information. They may list the full names of the bride and groom, their residences, races, ages, dates and places of birth, previous marriages, occupations, and their parents, names, places of birth (state or country), and occupations. Recent laws require health certificates attesting to the absence of diseases that could be passed on to children.
For most locations, marriage license applications can be found for periods beginning after the Civil War. Indiana, Wisconsin, and Utah counties maintained them earlier. The application form does not include the marriage date.
Marriage licenses exist in varying forms. A standard form generally asks for the names of the bride and groom, their residence at the time of application, the date the marriage was performed, the date the license was issued, the place of the marriage, and the name of the person performing the marriage ceremony.
Certified copies of marriage records are certified to be correct, but there is a possibility of error in any typescript. It is best to request photocopies when you write a town or county clerk.
Marriage Ledger
On completion of the ceremony, the signed license is returned to the clerk or ordinary for recording. The date and the name of the officiating clergy or other official are added to the license book, and entries are made in the bride and groom indexes of marriages. (These are often compiled at a later date in alphabetical sequence.)
Marriage Certificates
Marriage certificates are given to the couple after the ceremony is completed and are thus usually found among family records. There are exceptions, however. The bride and groom usually receive a marriage certificate for their family records containing similar historical information, signatures of witnesses, etc.
Marriage Registers and Returns
Colonial and state governments have required that marriages performed within their jurisdictions be reported to civil authorities. The town or county clerk then compiles marriage registers, though these registers are rarely complete. Those who officiated at marriages in rural areas were often reluctant to travel the distances required to comply with the law. Sometimes, also, ministers’ records were lost or destroyed before the marriages were properly reported. Itinerant preachers, who crossed jurisdictional boundaries, rarely registered marriages at all. Couples sometimes obtained a license, filed a bond, or made applications in one jurisdiction and then married in another, but ministers filed returns only in their own counties. Still, marriage returns are the only documents that provide evidence that the marriage actually took place.
Marriage registers differ from one jurisdiction to another. Some required only the names of the couple and the date of the marriage. Registers are normally arranged in chronological order by year, though there can be overlap in registers that were infrequently updated.
Some registers exist in the absence of licenses. This is true for registers in Virginia and West Virginia after 1853, which provide the marriage date, minister, names of the parties, their ages, places of birth, residences, parents, and occupations. Many of these registers have been transcribed.
Most marriage registers are compiled from written returns submitted by ministers and justices. The lists are copied into the register by a clerk and are thus subject to transcription errors.
Not all marriage returns were entered into a register. Some were simply noted on the license or bond; others were written on scraps of paper filed loosely in the clerk’s office, either in alphabetical order or by the first letter of the groom’s surname. Most loose returns have been microfilmed for easier use.
Engagement Announcement
Newspapers today still publish a limited number of engagement announcements. In earlier times, though, when newspaper space was at less of a premium and less expensive, a couple or their families might publish a notice of engagement. The couple’s names, the names of their parents and other family members, the couple's places of origin, their educational institutions, their religious affiliations, and other details might be included.
Newspaper Marriage Announcement
Newspaper announcements were not uncommon in earlier times. Some larger ones for more prominent society figures might include photographs and extensive details of the ceremony, names of family members and ceremony attendees, and announcements of the couple's plans for honeymoon and residence. Less prominent couple's marriage announcements might be smaller but can often contain details of the wedding; names of family members, attendees, and officiating clergy; and other pertinent facts.
Marriage records were issued and maintained by town and county jurisdictions before state registration was established. Marriage records are usually indexed by the surname of the groom, but a few jurisdictions have compiled cross-indexes. Some states are collecting these early marriage records from the local jurisdictions—but because no comprehensive list of these repositories exists, you must write to the town or county first.
Writing For Marriage Records
Researchers who cannot use the Family History Library’s collection can write to town or county record custodians. For a fee, clerks will search the local records and send a copy of the information requested. This process can be lengthy, and clerks are not always thorough in their searches. (I made three separate requests for a single marriage license to the same county. The clerk wrote back each time saying that there was no record on file. Upon visiting that county myself a few years later, I found the document in less than five minutes.) Make repeated requests or hire an agent to obtain a record when the marriage location is certain.
Because of recently passed privacy laws, state boards of vital records and bureaus of vital statistics may require you to file a form stating your relationship to the bride and groom and the purpose of the request, but they will usually provide records for family history purposes. Marriage records can be obtained from numerous sources. Some counties registered marriages in court records and deed books. Common law marriages, if referred to at all, would be found in court records, which are rarely indexed (unlike deed books) and require substantial research time. However, they should not be overlooked.
Family Records
Family records, such as family Bibles, journals, diaries, and personal histories, often include marriage documents or references to marriages. Certificates, contracts, and divorce records can also be found in personal collections. Some family records have been donated to local historical societies, libraries, universities, or state archives. Manuscripts of unpublished family histories contain valuable genealogical information and are also found in these kinds of libraries, all of which usually have guides to their manuscript collections.
Printed Records
The number of printed volumes of marriage records grows daily as genealogy enthusiasts continue to make contributions to the field. These volumes are available through libraries, historical and genealogical societies, booksellers, publishers, and private distributors. They vary in usefulness. Some collections improve upon a poor original record by adding details about a couple and their families. However, the quality of such a volume always depends on the skill of the transcriber in reading illegible handwriting and damaged records. Because a transcribed copy rarely includes all the information contained in the original record, you should also look at the original entry whenever possible.
Genealogical periodicals published by state and county genealogical societies also include marriage records. You can find large collections of these periodicals in many local libraries, or you can receive your own copies of such publications by joining the societies.
Newspapers have printed marriage announcements and engagements for decades. These articles often contain such information as the names of the parents of the bride and groom, place of residence after the marriage, and names of those in attendance at the wedding.
Special Problems Encountered When Using Marriage Records
An estimated thirty percent of the marriage records in this country are incomplete. Many marriage returns were never submitted to civil authorities, and countless others have been lost. Hamilton County, Ohio, which recorded marriages for Cincinnati, is an interesting example. Many records were lost in a courthouse fire. Years later the WPA copied those that survived, combining applications, licenses, and returns and then indexing them. Local genealogists reconstructed some from ministers’ daybooks, original certificates, and newspaper accounts. The DAR also collected marriage records from family and local sources. Because each of these collections came from different sources, the researcher must check them all; even so, some marriages will not have been recorded. Careful checking of all versions becomes important upon considering that Cincinnati, like many American cities, was a “Gretna Green” (a no-questions-asked marriage locale in Scotland) for couples from up and down the Ohio River and from a wide circle of counties in Indiana and Kentucky, as well as Ohio. Therefore, if there is no record in the nearby county where a couple may have lived, chances are good that the entry may be found among the Cincinnati marriage records, even though they are incomplete.
Marriage records are often inaccurate. Brides and grooms have sometimes provided deliberately falsified information. To reduce their workloads, clerks often entered the date of the marriage at the time the license was issued instead of waiting for the return. Thus, marriage information should be compared with other facts known about an individual. Additional research may be necessary to resolve discrepancies.
Spelling variants are also a problem in marriage records. Many clerks did not ask couples how their names were spelled but wrote them based on their pronunciation instead. All possible spellings of a surname should be checked before assuming that a couple is not in a given record.
Many marriage records are virtually illegible due to faded entries, damaged ledger books, poor handwriting, and poorly microfilmed originals. Published marriage records can assist in clarifying unreadable entries. If poor microfilming is the problem, write to the county or town and request a photocopy or certified copy of the original. Sometimes more than one type of marriage record can be obtained.
If a marriage record is not on file for an ancestor, other records can reveal an approximate date of marriage. The 1900 Federal Census lists the number of years a couple had been married; the marriage date can be calculated from that entry. Civil War pension application files contain marriage information. If a veteran’s widow filed for a pension, she had to produce proof of the marriage by obtaining an affidavit from the appropriate minister or civil authorities, supplying a copy of the marriage certificate, or sending sworn statements from persons who could testify to the marriage date and place.
Today, one in every three marriages ends in divorce. Divorce was also common in early America as the colonies reacted against the severely restrictive divorce tradition inherited from England.3 Divorce in England at the time of the founding of America was expensive, time-consuming, against Anglican law, and frowned upon socially. The only cause recognized was adultery. Three types of divorce existed in England in the early modern period:
a trial before an ecclesiastical court for a divorce from “bed and board” (legal separation), the legal right to live apart as though single but not the right to marry again (an oath or bond promising the parties would not remarry was filed)
a suit for damages in a civil court against the spouse’s lover
a petition presented to the House of Lords for a hearing which ended with the grant of an absolute divorce—the dissolution of a legally valid marriage leaving both parties free to remarry.
Before 1715, the House of Lords granted only five divorces in the entire British Empire. From 1715 to 1775, sixty were granted; from 1776 to 1800, seventy-four; and from 1800 to 1850, ninety. Only four of these divorces were granted to women, who had to prove extreme cruelty as well as adultery.
A less expensive but equally elaborate way to dissolve a marriage was to obtain an annulment from the Church of England, which declared the marriage void from the beginning because undue force or fraud had been used or the parties were too closely related by blood, were underage, or one or both of the parties had been under contract to someone else. Children born to an annulled union were declared illegitimate and could not inherit from their parents unless the church made special exception. Still, many annulments were sought.
American colonists were not anxious to establish ecclesiastical courts in the New World. Divorce law in the United States is almost entirely derived from statute. A study of the system the colonists knew at the time they left England, which thus formed the basis of divorce law in all the colonies, is Lawrence Stone, Road to Divorce: England, 1530–1987; Uncertain Unions: Marriage in England, 1660–1753; and Broken Lives: Separation and Divorce in England, 1660–1857, 3 vols. (Oxford Press, 1990–93).
In New England, where marriage was considered a civil contract, courts granted civil divorces from early times. In the middle colonies—New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—divorces were handled either by the governor and his council or by petition to the Assembly. Adultery or prolonged desertion were the only grounds recognized. In the South, where the Church of England had greater influence, few civil divorce laws were in effect until after the American Revolution. A married couple could separate by mutual consent, apply for legal recognition of their separation, and petition for alimony. The parties were usually not free to marry again. In all of the original colonies and several of the states, divorce by legislative petition was allowed. As petitions became numerous, however, overburdened legislatures gave this judicial function to the regular courts.
Profound differences still exist from one state to another. Each state determines which court will handle divorce cases—superior court, equity court, probate court, or family or domestic court. The procedure basically allows the judge to decide what is just and equitable in each case within the limits set by the law. Because of this lack of uniformity, a researcher must study the development of divorce in each relevant jurisdiction.
Divorce Records
Divorce is a court action recorded in court records: dockets that list plaintiff and defendant and the specific term or day of the court; minute books, which record court judgments and case descriptions (often in terse legal language); and case files, which provide affidavits, lists of children with their ages, property inventories, and other data. The date and place of marriage, ages or dates of birth of the couple, places of birth, and the grounds for the divorce are usually included. In addition, the record may list the names of other family members, since the children may be in the custody of grandparents, uncles, or close family friends.
Divorce records may be recorded in volumes with the regular court cases, in separate volumes reserved for divorce cases, or in a series of separate volumes for each kind of record.
Early Utah quickly gained the reputation of being a divorce “mecca,” with its broad grounds for divorce, inexpensive court procedures, and lack of residence requirements. When out-of-state people began arriving to take advantage of this situation, Utah stiffened its residency requirements and lengthened the waiting period.
If the location of the defendant had been known, he could have been served with papers by a court official. Instead, the notice was published in the newspapers. During the colonial period, notices were posted on the town bulletin board at the courthouse, church, or city hall. News notices often ran as long as forty weeks. As communications improved, the time was gradually decreased to three to four weeks.
Some states require a certificate of divorce, with a copy filed at the state bureau of vital statistics. New Hampshire has issued certificates since 1880; other states did not begin this practice until well into the 1930s. Court records are public records, but those issued in the past fifty years are often protected by privacy legislation, and the permission of the divorced party may be required to get the data. Some states do not have certificates on file but can verify dates and refer queries to the court that has the record.
Locating Divorce Records
Divorce records can be found in such diverse places as a well-lighted archive search room, a basement storage vault, or a warehouse.
Nineteenth-century divorces and some earlier divorces will most often be found in county or circuit courts or their counterparts. Divorces filed in the years immediately following statehood may be in the proceedings of the state’s legislative body. Legislative divorces continued to be granted in some areas long after the same powers were granted to the regular courts, so researchers should check the records of assembly and council as well as the court records. Printed volumes can serve as name indexes to the original files.
Divorces filed before statehood may be found in territorial or colonial legislative records. In addition to legislative or court files, there are other sources where early divorces are recorded. Colonial assemblies were required to submit copies of every law passed to the British government for ratification or veto. Private acts for divorce were included. Sometimes acts of divorce were disallowed by the crown. Because colonial laws were valid and legal until they were disallowed, couples who may even have remarried were sometimes ordered back together after a royal review period that sometimes lasted three to six years. By 1773, the increase in divorces caused alarm in England, and governors were ordered not to approve any further divorce bills. Hence, there were fewer divorces until after the American Revolution.
Acts submitted to the crown are recorded in the Colonial Office volumes, available in print in large research libraries. Each volume is individually indexed for all documents abstracted or calendared. Originals are in the Public Record Office, Ruskin Ave., Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW94DU, UK.
Local newspapers publish legal notices and also lists of divorces granted. Early issues carried notices placed by husbands to warn local tradesmen that they would no longer be responsible for debts incurred by their ex-wives. On occasion, wives also placed notices of freedom.
The disposition of property in any divorce case is determined by state statute or by equitable decision of the court. Alimony is the allowance a woman is entitled to receive from her husband during separation and after divorce. The amount is usually set by the court based on the financial circumstances of the husband and the needs of the wife. In rare instances, a husband may be granted alimony from his wife. Alimony can be paid in monthly or annual installments or as a single lump sum, and the obligation usually ends when the spouse remarries. In some jurisdictions, a wife guilty of adultery is denied alimony; in others she receives payment regardless of such circumstances.
In South Carolina, which did not recognize divorce, or states that severely limited the grounds for divorce, courts accepted petitions for alimony to provide for the needs of family members who wished to live apart. In areas in which there were many Shakers, for example, courts addressed the needs of spouses abandoned when the other spouse joined the celibate group. A woman was given a share of the husband’s property and custody of the children. No divorce was granted, and the parties were still legally married, although living apart.
In most jurisdictions, until recently, if the wife was not guilty of adultery, she was entitled to her full dower and one-third of her husband’s property at his death, even though a divorce had taken place. Some jurisdictions subtracted from the dower the amount already received in alimony. A husband could claim, by right of curtesy, one-third of the wife’s property.
Courts outline provisions for children of dissolved marriages at the time the divorce is granted. The law generally stipulates that the father must help pay for the upbringing of the children. The amount is determined by the court, based upon the earning ability of the father and the number of children. In cases of non-payment, the court can order arrears to be made and enforce its decrees, even to the point of garnishing wages if necessary.
The custody of children is usually awarded based upon individual circumstances, although some jurisdictions today permit children above a certain age (eight to fourteen) to choose which parent they wish to live with. Visiting rights may be granted or denied to the other spouse at the discretion of the court.
Divorce Meccas
Certain states (or colonies) gained reputations for easy divorce. Stringent laws in one area led to migration into areas where divorces were easier to obtain. Pennsylvania and New England attracted New Yorkers. Ashtabula County in Ohio, which was readily accessible from New York, Pennsylvania, and Ontario, Canada, granted many divorces to non-Ohio residents. Chicago granted four hundred divorces in 1868 alone. Utah Territory had no residency requirements until 1878, and even today Utah requires only three months’ residency. Indiana had no residency requirements until 1859, and the residency requirements in other states vary widely: twenty-nine states require one year; Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Arkansas require two years; Connecticut and Massachusetts require three years; North Carolina and Virginia require six months; Utah three months; Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada seem to compete to lower their requirements to attract the divorce trade. Louisiana, New York, Wisconsin, and South Carolina have no specific residency requirement, but the grounds are more stringent in those states.
After the Civil War, the frontier was often the most practical resolution to a bad marriage. In earlier periods this had been true of immigration to the New World as well. A ride into the sunset by one or both parties was easier and less expensive than petitioning for a legislative divorce. Numerous examples of runaway spouses can be found among the advertisements in early newspapers, a bonus for genealogists.
