Texas, County Marriage Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This article covers multiple collections.

The "Texas County Marriage Index, 1837-1977" collection is an index to a variety of marriage records (registers, licenses, intentions to marry, etc.) from select counties in Texas.

The "Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965" collection consists of various types of marriage records from 183 of the 254 counties in Texas. The collection covers the years of 1837-1965.

The records include marriage registers, intentions and licenses which are either handwritten in a journal style or handwritten on pre-printed forms in a register style. Journal style usually has a single entry per page and registers usually have multiple entries on each page. County clerks generally used the same printed form during the same time periods. The records are arranged by county, then by volume and year range.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Marriage
 * Name of the groom
 * Name of the bride
 * Title of bride and groom (such as Mr., Mrs., or Miss)
 * Names of the officiator and title (such as Reverend or Minister)
 * Date of the marriage
 * Place of marriage
 * Age of bride and groom
 * Residence of bride and groom
 * Names of parents or legal guardians
 * Residence of parents or legal guardians

Sample Images
Marriages were recorded by the clerk of the district court for each county from the time the county was formed. Persons desiring to marry obtained a license that they presented to the minister or other person authorized to marry, such as a justice of the peace. Once the marriage was performed, the officiator sent a return to the clerk confirming that the marriage had occurred.

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.

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

How Do I Search These Records?
You can search the index or view the images or both. Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name of the person
 * The location
 * Date of event

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?
Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. Look at the actual image of the record, if you can, to verify the information and to find additional information.

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

 * Use the age or estimated birth date to find other church and vital records such as birth, baptism, marriage, and death records. (Make sure that if it’s a marriage article, you take the word marriage out, if it’s a birth article, take the word birth out, etc.)
 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses. Witnesses were usually family members
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?
For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records).
 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby town or county
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well
 * Check the info box above for additional FamilySearch websites and related websites that may assist you in finding similar records
 * Consult the Texas Record Finder to find other records

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

Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977
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.

Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965
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.