Why Can't You Find Your Ancestor's Marriage Record?

Why Can't You Find Your Ancestor's Marriage Record? | Genealogy Explained

Рет қаралды 4,820

Күн бұрын

What happens when you can't find a marriage record and marriage dates for your ancestor? In this video, learn why you might not find a marriage record.
🔎 Little-Used Genealogy Websites for Marriage Records 👉🏼 • Little-Used Genealogy ...
Then learn what alternative marriage documentation can help in your genealogy research.
----------------
CONTINUE LEARNING
📺 Search Ancestry's Newspapers Marriage Index • How to Search Newspape...
📺 FindMyPast Catholic Marriage Records • Research Catholic Marr...
📺 How to Find an Ancestor's Birth Date Without a Birth Certificate • How to Find an Ancesto...
📺 Use a No Name Search to Find Your Ancestor in Genealogy Records • No Surname Searches Ma...
📓 Show Notes: www.familyhistoryfanatics.com...
↪️ Grab your FREE genealogy research guides and templates at www.familyhistoryfanatics.com...
⚡ Want to grow your family tree faster? Join our membership program.
/ @familyhistoryfanatics
📗 Like to read? Check out these books
www.familyhistoryfanatics.com...
----------------
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
0:31 Why you can't find a marriage date
2:55 Change Your Online Search Strategies
3:33 Why genealogists should know marriage laws
4:05 Use Alternative Sources to Find an Ancestor's Marriage Date
4:22 Use Divorce Records to Find Marriage Dates
5:09 Use Church Records to Find Marriage Dates
6:21 Use County Histories to Find Marriage Dates
----------------
✅ Let's connect:
✔️ Subscribe for more genealogy tips: tinyurl.com/FHFanaticsKZfaq
✔️ Website: www.familyhistoryfanatics.com
✔️ Share Video Ideas: www.familyhistoryfanatics.com...
#FamilyHistoryFanatics #genealogy #MarriageRecords

Пікірлер: 53

@FaviansWorld 3 жыл бұрын

If your ancestors were Catholic, then baptisms can be a great source! Some of the baptisms have the date of marriage, and who they married to the side of the baptism record.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

Yes! Thanks for the reminder.

@dranet47 3 жыл бұрын

My grandparents have their marriage date on their headstone. Obituaries have dates too sometimes.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

I love when newspapers give you just a little more. My parents put their birth date , death date and PLACES for BOTH on their gravestones. I'm capitalizing because it's really cool.

@olabaskerville 3 жыл бұрын

I’m from Eastern Galicia. All my known ancestors were Catholics - Greek and Roman. Sometimes you can’t find marriage record in local parish from some reasons. You should search marriage record in parish of bride (in most cases). That means you should search in village/town where she was from or, for example, if groom was Greek Catholic and bride was Roman Catholic you should search in Roman Catholic church records

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

That's a FANTASTIC tip. Thanks so much for helping us all learn something new.

@weekendmom 3 жыл бұрын

I couldn't find my fifth great grandparents' marriage record for Cumberland County, Virginia for the early 1800s, but my fifth great grandfather was in the war of 1812 and his widow later applied for a widow's pension in the 1850s. In the pension application, she lists her marriage date and even the minister who performed the ceremony! And this application was available for free on Fold3.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

PERFECT!!!!! Pension records definitely help our research. Thanks for sharing.

@tiffanymims8691 3 жыл бұрын

I found a marriage for a couple buried in the cemetery I work at that ran off a couple of counties away because nobody knew them in that other county. The bride was only 16 at the time of their marriage, but in Missouri, at that time, women had to be 18 years old or have parental consent, and men had to be 21 or have parental consent. If I remember correctly, the guy was only 20 years old. So, they went out of town and came back married.

@sr2291 3 жыл бұрын

We have found 2 so far. One 14 year said she was 19 and the other 1 month after she turned 14 said she was 18. Both married men over 21.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

Great tip. Thank you.

@ABQKLMS 3 жыл бұрын

Catholic Church records have been my key to identifying generations of ancestors in Austria, Slovenia, and Slovakia.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

YES!!!! Catholic church records can really have amazing details. So excited.

@vbrewer5195 3 жыл бұрын

and early Canada settlers. Great info from them

@karmagal78 Жыл бұрын

Through a handed down family history through a grandaunt, I had always been told that her parents (my great grandparents) had married in New York. Never made any sense as she was from Kansas and that’s where they settled. He was born in New York, though. I searched for years to find anything in New York with no luck. I decided to flip the script and search Kansas. First try and I scored. Found the marriage license and corrected the family history.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics Жыл бұрын

Yeah! Sometimes you have to search where the family didn't tell you. Sometimes, you have to check out the 'misleading' hints on Ancestry or other websites that say, the were married in an unexpected place. So happy you found what you were looking for and took time to share that experience with me. I look forward to reading more of your comments in the future.

@frankhooper7871 3 жыл бұрын

My Nan was born in 1901; her siblings were born between 1882 & 1895. I found the record of her parents' banns being read in 1881, but not the record of the actual marriage. _Eventually_ I did find the marriage itself...in 1897! (and a civil rather than church service). So tecnically my Nan was the only one born legitimately LOL. No idea why there was a 16 year gap between banns and marriage.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

WOW!!!!! That gives validation to the tip to search long after you expected the marriage to happen. Perhaps it was financially difficult to marry? Perhaps they couldn't agree on the church (since they later married outside the church). Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

@borreliaetc 3 жыл бұрын

My mother always lorded over her brother and sisters the fact that she was the only legitimate one. lol! My Nan and Poppa always told the story that they met in the Airforce in 1944 (true), married in 1945 (not true) and had their first child in 1946 (true). They never thought I would have a way to check... Turns out my Scottish Poppa (born in Glasgow, 1921) was married when he met my Nan in 1944. They were both in the British Airforce; Poppa went down to Liverpool, England (where my Nan was born in 1923) for pilot training. My Poppa and Alice had a Roman Catholic marriage ceremony after Banns in Apr 1941. They had one son prior to that in 1939. Alice gave birth just four months after the wedding to a little girl... and she wasn't Poppa's. She didn't look anything like him (and I confirmed that he was not the father by dna many years later). It took until Feb 1955 for Poppa to get a divorce, then my Nan married my Poppa in March 1955 and they conceived my mother on their honeymoon. My mother and her siblings also didn't know they had a half brother until it was too late to meet him (died of cancer in 2001) but now we have his sons, my cousins, "back" in the family. ❤

@tanyakasim3988 3 жыл бұрын

American Ancestors has Catholic Church records, namely Boston Archdiocese ones. ☺️ I found out that the Massachusetts Vital and Town Records include church records from 1626 to 2001 and the Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639 to 1915 on FamilySearch in the Catalog section.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

Findmypast also has Catholic Church records for several places. I did a video about that.

@seeingyouontube 3 жыл бұрын

My 95 year old mother knows the date and the judge that presided over her Civil marriage in Geneva, NY in 1944 but there are no official records to be found. Years ago my grandfather, from the same town tried to obtain the records but was told the person who was to file for the license was a temporary worker who absconded with the $5 fee. There is no proof of this though. Fortunately my mother had a church wedding 3 months later in Fayetteville, NC where my dad was stationed in the Army. The church records were intact and I used these to build the case to obtain my dual Italian citizenship.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 2 жыл бұрын

Now that is an incredible story.

@nclarke372 2 ай бұрын

I found Marriage information via a will. My 4th GGF, William Clarke, mentioned a Granddaughter Mary Ann Browning in his 1845 will. Two other females where recorded in the will, Ann Denson and Elizabeth (age 14), she later married a Richard Jacobs. So where did Mary Ann Browning come from who was her parents. She is also recorded in the 1850 Census as age 10 living with her grandmother Elizabeth Clarke. In searching the Maryland Marriage record for a Clarke/Browning marriage I found a an Aurelia Clarke and Richard Browning married 16 Oct 1837 Prince Georges Co. MD. right place and the time frame matched. Aurelia also fit in to the mystery Female child of the 1800, 1810 & 1820 Census. Aurelia must have died giving birth to Mary Ann or with in a year.

@whychromosomesmusic5766 3 жыл бұрын

In some Italian civil ("Stato Civile") birth records you may be lucky enough to see "Annotazione" (Annotation) written on the outside margin of the page and find information about the baby in question from LATER in their life. You can find marriage and/or death information added there many years after the birth of the person. Very often the marriage and/or deaths took place in a different location from where the person was born. So if you find your ancestor's Italian civil birth record and you see "Annotazione" and information there on the outside margin of that page it is definitely worth the extra effort to figure out what it says there. Also you mention Civil War pensions, but, I have found copies of actual marriage licenses in Revolutionary War pension files. Or sometimes the marriage information was recorded in the request for the pension. War of 1812 pension file INDEX CARDS (let alone the pension files themselves) often show marriage and death information of the veteran. I see indexes for veterans of Indian Wars on Fold3, but, I have no clue what someone would receive if they ordered one of those files from NARA. Has anyone ever ordered a file for a veteran of Indian Wars and what is included in the file? I have seen information online that Georgia soldiers of Indian Wars there received bounty land in Alabama in return for their service. The person who posted that on the Genweb must have obtained it from reliable sources and I would suspect from the actual pension files.

@whychromosomesmusic5766 3 жыл бұрын

Oh just to be clear most Italian Civil vital records (birth, marriage and death) don't exist prior to 1866. I believe that was the first official year of them being recorded. Prior to that date all vital records in Italy were only recorded by the local Catholic parish. Except possibly for a few Protestant vital records.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

Yes!!! I wish most church records would do that. I have one known Catholic in my tree but I didn't see the tracing back like others have. I also love Catholic records that record parents AND grandparents. I keep thinking - their's so lucky!

@whychromosomesmusic5766 3 жыл бұрын

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I think it's a more a matter that they are ITALIAN rather than specific Catholic church records. For my specific area of research (Province of Torino, Region of Piemonte, Italy) the attention to detail varies (usually depending on the clerk recording them) but I've found that it is more than any American records for the same periods. I am also lucky in that my specific area of Italy has a lot of records available online at Family Search. Other areas of Italy have not been as generous and with the FHC's closed due to Covid that makes it even more difficult for those needing access to records in those places in Italy. The vital records (baptism and/or birth, marriage, death and/or burial) in my area that are available are generally the following: Church parish vital records in Latin only (1823-1837), Church parish records in Italian (1838-1865), Church parish records AND civil records in Italian (1866-1899), Civil records in Italian (1900- more modern usually up to 1930s or 1940s depending on the particular town in question). The "Annotazione" do not appear in the church records (that I am aware of). They are found in the Civil Records.

@beatrixflynn5126 4 ай бұрын

I cannot for the life of me find my great-great-grandparents marriage record from 1896ish. They were second cousins on both mom and dads sides, and grew up together going to the same school in the same small Midwest farm town. There is a very active newspaper for the area that documented everything, yet no mention of their marriage, (though my great grandmother's sister's marriage shows up in three different papers.) I think it was perhaps a shotgun wedding because they said they had been married for 4 years in the 1900 census with a three year old kid, and the county history from 1896 does not refer to my great-grandmother as married. I think I'm going to have to assume they never officially married, but it seems strange given the time and place and family.

@kimwatson8554 3 жыл бұрын

Years ago, the best advice I got from a historical church genealogist was that many people had to wait for the preacher to come to town before they could "formally" get married, and baptize their kids. Back in the old days, unless you lived in a big city, church's and town records, always hand written, were filled in, sometimes by people who were record keepers years later. So, keeping up with records and family's surnames (often guessing at the spelling of a name) was hit or miss. It also helps to remember that most of our country was being "settled by men and women who were mostly always trying to find work, some land to build a house near a developing town.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 2 жыл бұрын

Great tips. I have heard many of those before. Thanks for contributing.

@joannathesinger770 3 жыл бұрын

Not necessarily. I have an ancestor couple who had a common law marriage. In 1827, after 9 children, they were granted a divorce AND she was granted alimony. (He didn't have the proverbial "pot to piss in" when they got together and he was--because of what SHE brought to the marriage and helped him earn during the marriage. I was shocked...but very happy for her.)

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 2 жыл бұрын

Where was this? I love learning about exceptions.

@barbarahawkins7930 3 жыл бұрын

I have a good one ! How about how to find a marriage record in KY early 1820's ! To this day, we cannot find who our William Blalock was married to ( if he actually married that is) All we see in 1860 is Mrs. Blalock not one iota of a first name ever ever ever. Not one state we contacted from TN, KY, Illinois, MO. has anything whatsoever. Have any other ideas on how to find 4th great grandma? Have a great, beautiful day.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

Kentucky is the BANE of my existence. However, this is when you need to try alternative sources... county histories, centennial biographies, and compilations from genealogy societies that served as substitutes for the lack of marriage records. Check out the state and local Kentucky Genealogy Societies for either resources or a way to reach out to those familiar with alternative sources.

@borreliaetc 3 жыл бұрын

I'm finding a couple of weird marriage dates for 1700's English ancestors (Kent County) - would ppl really marry off their kids at ten years old? Did they have betrothal records or ward records to check in the UK?

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

Now that is a question I shall put forth in another area to see what we discover.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

I've heard conflicting messages. Lifeline Researchers say "Not at all likely and virtually unprecedented! The legal age was 14 for boys and 12 for girls - with parents' consent. In practice, marrying under the age of 17 was very unusual. The average age at first marriage in the early 1700s was 27.5 for grooms and 26.2 for brides." By contrast, Simon Walsh says "Fleetwood Barton married Sir Richard Molineaux in a ceremony aged 7 (not uncommon in those days. See footnote 3) although the marriage was set aside. She then went on to marry Sir Richard Shuttleworth with whom she had 10 children." www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/101591883/person/292152230336/media/258f4eae-11c4-49a6-80ba-fa1eb7bb9c79 What I'm gathering is that young brides were rather an exception in many cases, but possible.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

I also posted answers in the community section of facebook. There are quite of few responses. kzfaq.infoUgyPy8WyZkbmLKA7viF4AaABCQ

@borreliaetc 3 жыл бұрын

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I'm gathering sources and doing some extra work to be able to present this, so, to be continued... In the meantime: I'm leaning towards the birth years aren't correct, or I'm looking at a different John and Elizabeth. I've heard stories about wards and young betrothals in England.. just wondered if there would be sources to check that kind of thing besides estate papers which can be extremely hard to read. More information on Elizabeth Hogben and John Lambert will be incoming! They would be my 7th great grandparents, ***if this info is correct. I triangulated my way up on Ancestry, Fam Search and Find my Past (with some My Heritage thrown in for good measure) to Martha Lambert, born in Tonbridge, Kent, England in 1723, baptized 3 Oct 1723 to "John Lampert" and "Eliz" Martha went on to marry Robert Paine in Staplehurst, Kent on 4 May 1753. What I'm looking at are her parents, who were suggested by all sites. But to me the dates are weird. Everyone had John Lambert/Lampert born 1700 in Staplehurst, married Elizabeth Hogben (spelled some other ways as well: Hogbeen, Hogbean - who was born 1699) in 1710. But thia couple didn't have a daughter until 1723.. Oy... so now I'm looking up all the Hogben and Lambert families in the area. Need to whittle down possibilities. Thank you so much for putting this discussion up on your channel!!

@vbrewer5195 3 жыл бұрын

I had a couple early Canadian ancestors who married when the bride was 12/14 and what they did was live with another couple platonically until the bride was considered old enough a couple years later

@AdultThirdCultureKid1971 2 жыл бұрын

Consider also that some marriage records dated back to colonial times and that they may have been destroyed in a fire.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 2 жыл бұрын

Great reminder. So true.

@tonyu5985 3 жыл бұрын

What if they were never married.

@rettawhinnery 3 жыл бұрын

Several states still recognize common-law marriage. Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire (for inheritance purposes only), Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and the District of Columbia. The couple has to present themselves as married, which used to include the wife taking the surname of her husband and filing joint taxes. There is no such thing as a common-law divorce, so if a couple presents themselves as married, they have to get a legal divorce. In order to inherit from each other, they would have to have a will. P.S. I am not a lawyer. I just googled this information.

@tonyu5985 3 жыл бұрын

@@rettawhinnery I have an aunt who was never married to a protestant and they had children, and the same thing with my mother's aunts who moved in with protestants.

@rettawhinnery 3 жыл бұрын

@@tonyu5985 The video was about finding marriage records, so if they never married, there would not be a marriage record to find. It sounds like you have pretty good knowledge about the situation. Best of luck in your research and documentation.

@FamilyHistoryFanatics 3 жыл бұрын

If they never married, you won't be able to find a marriage date or record. However, some folks never married and presented themselves as married, so go for it. If they had children out of wedlock (for whatever reason), then leave a note on the online profiles to that effect. You can use MyTreeTags on Ancestry, the Like Sketch field and note fields on FamilySearch, etc. You're doing this not to pass judgement on your ancestors. You're doing this to remind yourself and others to stop looking for a non-existent marriage record. Great question.

@donnanorth7324 Жыл бұрын

my frustration is coming here for information and being sent somewhere else. tacky and self serving

@FamilyHistoryFanatics Жыл бұрын

I feel saddened that you took my recommendations to watch other videos or read the Show Notes as self-serving. The video can stand alone but if you want additional content, I'm directing you to further learning opportunities. I feel hurt you would see this as self-serving rather than a gateway to more knowledge. I request you consider my intention as being less nefarious than you suggest. Have a blessed day.