Delaware Marriage Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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Collection Time Period
This collection includes marriage records from 1861 to 1954.

Record History
State registration of marriages began in 1847 as the recorder of deeds for each county began to send copies of marriages to the secretary of the State Board of Health. Vital registration was generally complied with after 1913 when the central Bureau of Vital Statistics was established according to state law, which required registration of vital records. Copies of marriage records for the most recent 40 years can be obtained by writing to the Bureau of Vital Statistics, or for earlier records, from the Delaware Public Archives.

Population coverage is nearly 100% after statewide registration began in 1847. Coverage is not as complete for some earlier years.

Why This Record Was Created
Counties in Delaware recorded marriages to safeguard the interests of the wife and other legal heirs by documenting marriages and property ownership.

Record Reliability
Marriage records are considered to be primary source records. Information in these records is usually reliable, including the marriage date and place and residences of the bride and groom.

Record Description
Originally, marriage records were handwritten. Later they were typed on pre-printed forms with multiple entries on each page. Marriage records were generally well preserved, though fires, floods, or other disasters may have destroyed some records.

Record Content


Delaware marriage records may include the following:

• Name and age of the groom

• Place of residence and sometimes occupations of the bride and groom

• Name and age of the bride, often including maiden name of the bride

• Date of birth of the bride and groom

• Place of birth of the bride and groom

• Names of the parents and sometimes the grandparents of the bride and groom

• Marital status of the bride and groom

• Names of previous spouses of the bride and groom

• Name of the officiator

• Color or race of the bride and groom

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to marriages make it possible to access a specific marriage record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following: • The county where the marriage occurred. • The name of the person at the time of marriage. • The approximate marriage date. • The marriage place. • The name of the intended spouse.

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the marriage records. Compare the information in the marriage record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example: • Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information. • Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names. • Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records. • Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records. • Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records. • Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family. • The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties. • Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual. • Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify. • Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages. • When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Keep in mind: • The information in marriage records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant. • Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1900. • There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following: • Check for variant spellings of the surnames. • Search for the marriage record of the marriage partner if known. • Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. • Search the indexes and records of nearby counties. Related Web Sites

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Related Wiki Articles
Delaware Vital Records

Sources of This Collection
• Delaware. Bureau of Vital Statistics. “Marriage records, 1913-1954” These are digital images of originals housed at the Delaware Hall of Records, Dover, Delaware.

How to Cite Your Sources
Instructions for citing this source can be found at: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections