Mississippi, Tippah County Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The collection consists of marriages recorded by the Probate Court and the Circuit Court in Tippah County, Mississippi for the years 1858 to 1979. The records were filmed at the county courthouse in Ripley, Mississippi. This collection is being published as images become available.

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. The records are arranged by volume and year range. The records were generally well preserved, although fires, floods, or other disasters may have destroyed some records.

These records are segregated according to race from 1865 through part of the 20th century. Volumes are designated "colored" for marriages of blacks, "mixed," which includes both races (not necessarily intermarried) and "white." There are separate indexes for colored and white marriages.

Marriages were recorded by the clerk of the chancery court 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.

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

Record Content
Information usually found in this collection includes:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Names of witnesses
 * Name of officiator

How to Use the Record
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The name of the person at the time of marriage.
 * Identifying information such as the approximate marriage date or place

Search the Collection
To search the collection: ⇒Select the Browse link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "County" category ⇒Select the "Record Type,Year Range,Volume Number/Letter" category 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. 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.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example:


 * 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.
 * Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military 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.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * The information in marriage records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for an 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.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Related Websites

 * Mississippi Vital Records Information
 * Tippah County, Mississippi History, Records, Facts, Genealogy and Ancestry

Related Wiki Articles

 * Mississippi Genealogy
 * Mississippi Vital Records
 * Tippah County, Mississippi

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation

Image Citation