Washington, Pierce County Marriage Returns - FamilySearch Historical Records

What Is in the Collection?
This collection includes marriage records recorded within Pierce County for the years 1891 to 1950. 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.

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.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
These marriage records usually contain the following information:


 * Date of license
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name and age of groom
 * Number or marriages for groom
 * Race, residence and occupation of groom
 * Birthplace of groom
 * Name of groom's parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Name and age of bride
 * Number of marriages for bride
 * Race, residence and occupation of bride
 * Birthplace of bride
 * Names or bride's parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Name and title of person performing ceremony
 * Names of witnesses and their residence(s)

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

How Do I Search the Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name of the person
 * The location or date of the event

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 * 1) Select County
 * 2) Select Record type, year range and volume number or letter

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.

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

What Do I Do Next?
If these are indexes, the original records may contain additional information than was not indexed, or the information might have been indexed incorrectly. You may want to search for the original record at the National Archives.

I Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
 * Use the age or estimated birth date to find other county or Washington Vital Records such as birth, baptism, marriage, and death records.
 * Search for death or burial information in Washington Cemeteries and Washington Newspapers.
 * Use the information found in the record to find Washington Land and Property records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find Washington Probate Records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find Washington Emigration and Immigration records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in the Washington Census records. Witnesses were usually family members.
 * 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?

 * 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 a nearby locality Oregon Vital Records.
 * 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.

Citing This Collection
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