North Dakota, County Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States North Dakota

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of a name index and images to county marriage records acquired from local courthouse records in North Dakota from 1882-1925. A small portion of the records are in poor condition with fragments of the original document remaining and some names partially visible. Images in this collection appear in some county records chronologically and alphabetically in others.

This collection will eventually include all counties in North Dakota and is being published as images and records become available. Records currently include the counties of:

Digital Folder Number List
This collection contains a digital browse. Clicking on the "Browse through images" link on the collection page will take you to a list of digital film numbers. The list does not contain any description of the content of the film. The following table lists the contents of each set of images. The SHSND # column gives the microfilm number assigned by the State Historical Society of North Dakota. The Record Series is the number assigned to this record set by the State Historical Society.

Coverage Map
To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of North Dakota marriages, click here.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Marriage Licenses may contain the following information:
 * Name of groom and bride
 * Maiden name of bride
 * Ages of groom and bride
 * Parents’ names
 * Date of marriage
 * Names of officiator and witnesses
 * Race of groom and bride
 * Marital status of groom and bride

Early marriages (before 1886) in North Dakota were not required to be registered but some were filed with the city clerk where the marriage occurred or where the bride or groom resided. A copy of a marriage certificate was presented to the married party if they requested one.

A federal law in 1887 required officiators to file marriage certificates in the county probate court. A state law in 1890 changed the place of filing to the county courts, implemented use of an Application for Marriage License, and requirement for the Judge of the County Court to keep a marriage record book. In later years, marriage licenses were issued and registered in the county clerk offices and sometimes in the office of the county treasurer.

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of marriage.
 * The county where your ancestor married.
 * The name of the intended spouse.

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page[ ] then: ⇒ Select the "County" category ⇒ Select the "Record Type, Date Range and Volume"

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information to find other records such as birth, christening, census, land and death records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members. Witnesses or bondsmen were usually relatives.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of North Dakota, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the North Dakota Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: