Minnesota, County Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of an index and images of county marriage records for Minnesota. It covers the years 1860 to 1949.

Most of this collection consists of marriage licenses, applications, records, registers, and certificates. The records are arranged by county, then by volume and year range. The form type varies between register style and certificate style. County clerks usually used the same printed form during the same time periods. Marriage records were generally well preserved, although fires, floods, or other disasters may have destroyed some records.

The earliest marriage bonds and licenses were usually handwritten on loose papers that were later bound into lettered volumes. Some marriage records had multiple entries on each page, while others had single records per page.

Civil marriage records were created to legalize marital relationships and to protect the interests of the wife and other heirs to legal claims on property.

The marriage date, place, residence of the bride and groom, and occupations are relatively reliable. Other information, such as age or birthplace, is dependent on the knowledge, memory, and accuracy of the informants, usually the bride and groom.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name and residence of groom
 * Name and residence of bride
 * Names of witnesses
 * Name of person officiating at marriage

Coverage Table
The table shows the number of records for each county in this collection as of 18 June 2016.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The date of marriage
 * The place of marriage
 * The name of the intended spouse

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * 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
 * 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

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * 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
 * Don't forget to check all variations of the ancestor's name
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct
 * Consult the Minnesota Record Finder to find other records

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Minnesota.
 * Minnesota Guided Research
 * Minnesota Record Finder
 * Minnesota Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Minnesota Research, 1880-Present

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Mary Hawker Bakeman, ed., The genealogist's guide to Minnesota vital records. 2 volumes. Roseville, Minnesota : Park Genealogical Books, c2002, c2004. FHL 977.6 V27g v. 1-2

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * Minnesota Marriages, 1849-1950
 * Minnesota Marriage Index, 1958-2001
 * Minnesota Divorce Index, 1970-1995

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Minnesota Historical Records Survey Project, Division of Community Service Programs, Work Projects Administration Guide to public vital statistics records in Minnesota Saint Paul, Minnesota : Historical Records Survey (Minnesota), 1941

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.