Michigan Marriage Records - FamilySearch Historical Records/Known Issues

Question 1
Question 1: Some information on indexed entries is incorrect because of indexing errors that resulted from the left-side and right-side pages of a marriage record not being matched correctly when filmed, or because the information on the right-side page is aligned differently from that on the left-side page. The incorrect information may include the mothers’ maiden names, and an incorrect marriage date and place. Where can the correct information be found? Answer 1: Some pages were mixed up during filming and erroneously affected the transcription or indexing of the records. If a record detail page contains any of the following Digital Folder Numbers, you can expect to encounter indexing errors.

Digital Folder Number 4001631 (659 images) NOTE: Although the record detail page refers to digital folder number 4001631 and image number 249-252, the actual browse-able image is 4001631 &gt; 246-249.

Digital Folder Number 4032371 (Image 283 of 616) NOTE: Although the record detail page refers to digital folder Number 4032371 and image number 286, the actual browse-able image is 4032371 &gt; 283.

Due to a correction made by the clerk, the first eleven entries are off by one line number on the right-side of the page. You can see the faint words, "See next line." The clerk then continued that first record where the second one would normally go on the right-side of the page, and so on down the page.

Digital Folder Number 4047122 (Image 232 of 611) NOTE: Although the record detail page refers to digital folder Number 4032371 and image number 35, the actual browse-able image is 4047122 &gt; 232. Only a portion of the left-side page of the record is viewable. The right-side page can be located on Image 231. The entire image is available on Film 2342749: Marriage records: 1922 -- Genesee to Kent (to be cont'd) counties, which can be viewed at the Family History Library or some FamilySearch Centers.

Digital Folder Number 4207658 (Images 182-185 of 646) NOTE: Although the record detail pages refer to digital folder Number 4207658 and image number 86-89, the actual browse-able image is 4207658 &gt; 182-185. The entire ledger was filmed in reverse order (back to front).

Some of the 1887 marriage records in Presque Isle County have been indexed incorrectly with the year 1877 causing the birth year to be miscalculated. Each record can be verified by looking at the image linked to the record. The corresponding microfilm is Film 2342481Marriage records: 1887 -- Iron to Schoolcraft counties.

Digital Folder Number 4208640 (622 images) The corresponding microfilm is Film 2342514: Marriage records: 1899 -- Wayne to Wexford counties; 1900 -- Alcona to Crawford counties

The entire ledger was filmed in reverse order (back to front); some pages are missing or out of order; and the film was inadvertently loaded online in three segments that are out of order. So if you want to view the film from front to back to search for records, you will have to browse in the following order:

Image 589 (first page – starting with 1899 - Wayne County records) backwards to image 501, then image 622 backwards to image 592, and finally image 500 backwards to image 1 (last page). The 1900 -Alcona to Crawford county records start on Image 414 and go backwards to Image 12 which is the start of the Crawford county records.

Each image should be carefully evaluated to determine whether the right-side page corresponds with the left-side page. This can be done by comparing the date of the marriage license with the marriage date, names of witnesses with names on the left-side page, photo characteristics of the two pages, and marriage place with the county name (i.e., the place may be in another county). If the right-side page is not the correct match, it may be difficult to locate the correct right-side page since it may be anywhere in the digital folder. For example, the right-side page located on 324 matches the left-side page located on Image 311.

Question 2
Question 2: The browse folders only contain Digital Folder Numbers. How does this help me browse for the marriage records I am looking for? Answer 2: The Digital Folder Numbers are what is called a “fake browse”. In order to find the marriage records you are looking for, search from the collection home page. You can


 * Search by Last Names;
 * Search by Life Events: Marriage, entering the county or town of interest, as well as marriage year range; and
 * Search by Relationships: Spouse, entering all or part of the name.

Please review Document 106515 How to start a search from the Historical Records home page for basic search techniques. If you do not see the record(s) that you want, you can refine or filter your search results. See Document 114099 How to apply filters to your search results in Historical Records.

Question 3
Question 3: I found a marriage record for my ancestor that has been indexed with the incorrect mother of the bride and the incorrect wedding date. Can you help me with this concern? Answer 3: There may be instances where because of the age of the records, pages were loose. The pages were not arranged correctly when filmed, causing the wrong line up of pages on an image. This caused indexers to index the wrong parents and wedding dates. For example: In the waypoint 403243 image 96 was filmed with the incorrect page on the right. However it was refilmed on image 99 with the correct right side. Unfortunately image 96 is the image that was indexed. If you find inconsistencies like this, search the surrounding images to see if another filming was done that could show the correct lineup of pages.


 * Go to the Michigan Marriage Records - FamilySearch Historical Records article
 * Go to the Michigan Marriages 1868-1925 collection at FamilySearch.org