Maryland County Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Maryland 

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of an index of marriage records from Maryland counties from 1774-1940. The counties included are: Baltimore, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Harford, Prince George's, Somerset, and St. Mary's.

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images available for all users. However, rights to view images on our website are granted by the record custodians. Some of the images in this collection are only available for viewing if you are a registered FamilySearch user. You can register for a free FamilySearch account here.

For additional information about image restrictions, please see the Restrictions for Viewing Images in FamilySearch Historical Record Collections page.

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

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
This index usually contains the following:


 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Ages
 * Calculated birth year
 * Parents’ names
 * Marriage date
 * Marriage county and State
 * Reference ID Page/Volume/Entry/Certificate numbers

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * Your Ancestor’s name
 * Other identifying information such as their residence, age, names of other family members and relationships.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches.

What Do I Do Next?
Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

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

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. The information may also lead you to other records about your ancestors. The following examples show ways you can use the information:


 * Use the location of the couple to find family in census, church, and land records.
 * Use the marriage information to obtain a copy of the original marriage certificate from the county.
 * Use the estimated birth year to locate the original birth certificate.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.
 * Continue to search the index and records to identify siblings and other relatives who may have married in the same county.
 * Titles may be clues to property ownership, occupations, rank, or status within the community.
 * Be aware that, as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

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

 * Try alternative search methods such as filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then do the search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You can then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.
 * A boundary change could have occurred and the record of your ancestor is now in a neighboring locality.
 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records).

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):