Michigan Civil Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Michigan

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of an index to selected marriages from several places in Michigan for the years 1829 to 1974. Many of the records are from Saginaw and Wayne counties. The marriages are from published transcripts or we do not have legal rights to publish the images.

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

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The information in the records varies by county, time period and recorder. You may find any of the following:


 * Full names of bride and groom
 * Ages of bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name of other family members
 * Relationships
 * Social Standing
 * Birth dates and places
 * Page/Volume/Entry/Certificate number

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The date of the marriage.
 * The place where the marriage occurred.
 * The name of the intended spouse.

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. 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 on 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.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date.
 * Use the names and residences to find the family in census, church, and land records.
 * Use the certificate number to obtain original marriage certificate from county recorder.
 * 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.
 * Be aware that, as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

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

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could 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.

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):