Montana, County Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
The dates covered by this collection are 1865 to 1954.

Record History
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.

Montana does not have a centralized registration of marriage records.

A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Montana Vital Records State Department of Health or the county clerk’s office of the county where the event occurred.

The State Department of Health has an index to marriages beginning in 1943. This index helps to identify the county in which the marriage occurred. The original records are available only in the county.

Why This Record Was Created
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.

Record Reliability
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.

Record Description
Most of this collection consists of marriage licenses and certificates, including a few marriage declarations and marriage stubs

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.

Record Content
Genealogical facts found in these marriage records include the following:

• Name of the groom

• Name of the bride, often including the maiden name of the bride

• Names of the officiator and witnesses

• Names of the parents or guardians of the bride and groom

• Date of the marriage

• Birthplaces of the bride and groom

• Residences of the bride and groom

• Age and races of the bride and groom

• Marital status of the bride and groom

How to Use the Record
Marriage records are the best source for validating the date and place of marriage. Use the marriage as the basis for compiling a family group. Use the birth date or age and birthplace of each partner to find a couple’s birth records and parents’ names. Use the place of residence to search for other records that may have information on parents and siblings. 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.

Related Websites
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Related Wiki Articles
Montana Vital records

Sources of This Collection
"Montana Marriages, 1889-1947", database, FamilySearch; from digital images of originals housed in the clerks’ offices of the district courts in various counties throughout Montana. FHL microfilm, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

A full bibliographic record is available in the Family History Library Catalog

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