Minnesota, County Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in the 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.

Coverage Table
The table shows the number of records for each county in this collection as of 18 June 2016. To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of Minnesota marriages, click here.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Marriage records may include the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name and residence of groom
 * Name and residence of bride
 * Names of witnesses
 * Name of person officiating at marriage

How Do I Search the 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.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page:
 * 1) Select Browse through images on the initial collection page
 * 2) Select the appropriate Digital Folder Number which takes you to the images.

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

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?

 * 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.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

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.


 * Collection Citation:

"Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 1 December 2016. County courthouses, Minnesota.

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