How to Find New York Marriage Records

United States US Vital Records  How to Find United States Marriages  New York  Vital Records  New York Marriages

Looking for a marriage record from New York State as part of your genealogy research? New York State briefly kept marriage records from 1847 to about 1850 and started recording marriages again in 1881. Copies of all records can obtained from the town or city of birth or by contacting the state archives.

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Next Step: When did the marriage occur?

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 * Choose a time period:
 * Before 1847
 * 1847 thru 1850
 * 1851 thru 1880
 * 1881 thru 1907
 * 1908 thru 1935
 * After 1935
 * Marriage year unknown


 * }

Marriages Before 1847
Before 1847, no marriages were recorded by New York's county, city, town, or village governments. The Secretary of the Province of New York issued approximately 20,000 marriage licenses before 1784.

In most cases during this time period, you will need to search substitute records to locate your ancestors' marriage date and place. Substitutes for marriage record information:

Return to top: Choose another marriage year

Marriages from 1847 thru 1850
In 1847, New York State passed a law requiring marriages to be reported. It quickly fell into disfavor and few communities reported marriages after 1850 (with many discontinuing after the 1847-1848 time period). Extant records for this time period are either held by the local village, town, or city clerk or by the county clerk.

PART A: You know the village, town, or city of marriage

Try 1st: Determine if the records from your village, town, city, or county have been microfilmed by FamilySearch. Search the Catalog for both village/town/city and county and then order available microfilm copies to your local family history center.

Try 2nd: Order a copy of the marriage record from the village, town, or city clerk. To locate contact information, search for the village, town, or city in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Note that in some counties the county clerk holds all marriage records for this time period.

If you do not want to order the marriage record, you can search other records with marriage information.

PART B: You do not know the village, town, or city of marriage

If you do not know the village, town, or city of marriage, learn more about the family using census, land, probate, and church records. Return to top: Choose another marriage year

Marriages from 1851 thru 1880
After the failure of the 1847 law, no marriages were recorded by the State of New York between 1850 and 1880 though some cities (including Albany, Buffalo, Yonkers) started recording marriages in the 1870s. Try searching substitute records to locate your ancestor's marriage date and place.

Learn how to access records kept by Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers from the 1870s. Return to top: Choose another marriage year

Marriages from 1881 thru 1907
Starting in 1881, New York required that village, town, and city clerks record marriages. Copies of these marriages were then filed with the State Department of Health. Due to earlier city laws, copies of marriages recorded in Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers were not sent to the State between 1881 and 1914.

STEP ONE - Search the Index
The New York Archives as well as nine other repositories in New York hold copies of microfiche indexes to marriages certificates. Contact one of these ten repositories (listed on the State Archives website) to search the index.

STEP TWO - Obtain the Certificate
With an exact date (from your records or the index above), you can order a copy of the marriage record for a fee from the following locations:

See list of restrictions for ordering marriage records if you don't want to order the marriage record, you can search other records with marriage information.

Marriages in Albany (city), Buffalo, or Yonkers
Albany Marriage records for the 1870-1914 time period can be ordered from the Albany City Clerk and the Albany County Hall of Records

Buffalo Marriages records for the 1878-1914 time period can be ordered from the Buffalo City Clerk.

Yonkers Marriages records can be ordered from the City of Yonkers, NY Genealogical Research.

See list of restrictions for ordering marriage records Return to top: Choose another marriage year

Marriages from 1908 thru 1935
Starting in 1908, marriage records (including those from Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers) could be only be filed with a town or city clerk. Copies of marriage records were then filed with county who sent them on to the state. Since the counties did not always forward the marriage records on to the state, some towns and villages stopped sending their marriages to the county in 1915, 1922, 1926, or 1935. Copies of all marriages records (except New York City) were filed with the New York Department of Health. Copies can be obtained either through the town or city clerk where the marriage took place, through the county, or through the Department of Health. Most of the records filed with the counties area also available from FamilySearch

STEP TWO - Obtain the Certificate
With an exact date (from your records or the index above), you can order a copy of the marriage record for a fee from the following locations:

The New York Archives as well as nine other repositories in New York hold copies of microfiche indexes to birth certificates. Contact one of these ten repositories (listed on the State Archives website) to search the index.

See list of restrictions for ordering marriage records If you do not want to order the marriage record, you can search other records with marriage information. Return to top: Choose another marriage year

STEP ONE - Search the Index
After 1935, all marriages in New York were recorded by individual town and city clerks. Copies were sent to the state.

STEP TWO - Obtain the Certificate
See list of restrictions for ordering marriage records

If you do not want to order the marriage record, you can search other records with marriage information. Return to top: Choose another marriage year

Restrictions for Obtaining Marriage Records
To obtain a marriage certificate copy for a marriage that occurred within the past 50 years, you must be:


 * The person named on the marriage certificate
 * Persons who have a documented judicial or other proper purpose
 * Persons by order of a New York State Court

Restrictions are waived if both spouses are deceased. Return to the Top: Choose another marriage year

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