Summary of Marriage Records in the United States by State

United States U.S. Vital Records  Summary of Marriage Records in the United States by State

Places to look for Marriage Records




 * State Archives
 * City and County civil registrations
 * Church records of marriages
 * Online records sites like Ancestry ($), Fold3 ($), World Vital Records ($), Heritage Quest ($).
 * FamilySearch in the Records Search and Historic Books.
 * Newspapers often listed articles about marriages
 * Family Bibles and personal histories
 * Obituaries sometimes give marriage dates
 * Submitted genealogies posted by others
 * Google and other web site search sites, and don't forget to search Google Books

Look for more detailed information on each of these areas in the Wiki under each State page by clicking on the link for each of these different types of Records. You can also find more information on marriage records at United States Vital Records.

Places to Search for a Maiden Name


Marriage records: application, license, certificate (Church and Civil)

Cemetery records: burial, saxton, purchase and maintenance of plot, headstone

Census records: Federal and State

Land records: deeds, morgages

Church records: death, marriage and christening, membership

Probate records: Will,

Newspaper records: birth, marriage and death announcements, society pages

Death records: certificate (Church and Civil)

Military records: service and pension, elistment,

Naming patterns: name passed on as a given or middle name, name multi generational

Summary of online Marriage Records by State
For more details about marriage records in each state click on the State below to go to the State Vital Records page for that state. This listing is just a summary of places online where you can search for marriage records for each State.

Alabama
Alabama Marriage Collection 1800-1969 searchable online at Ancestry.com

Alabama Marriages 1809-1920 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

More Alabama Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Alabama Marriages Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Alaska
Western States Marriage Index has some Alaska Marriage Records available to search for free online.

Arizona
Western States Marriage Index has a large number of early Arizona marriage records available for search free online.

Arizona Marriage Collection 1864-1982 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Arkansas
Arkansas Marriages 1779-1992 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Arkansas Marriages 1851-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry. com

Arkansas Marriages 1820-1949 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Arkansas Marriage Index 1933-1939 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

More Arkansas Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

California
California Marriage Index 1960-1985 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

More California Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Western States Marriage Index has a significant number of early California marriage records available for search free online.

Colorado
Western States Marriage Index has some early western Colorado county marriage records available for search free online.

Colorado Marriages 1859-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Arapahoe County including Denver Colorado Marriage Records 1861-1868 is searchable online at the Colorado State Archives.

Gilpin County Marriage Index 1864-1944 is searchable online at the Colorado State Archives.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Colorado, Statewide Marriage Index (FamilySeach Historical Records)

Connecticut
Connecticut Marriage Index 1959-2001 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Connecticut Town Marriage Records pre-1970 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

More Connecticut Marriages Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Delaware
Delaware Marriages 1645-1899 is searchable online at Ancesty.com

Delaware Marriage Records 1744-1912 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

More Delaware Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Florida
Florida Marriage Records 1822-1875 and 1927-2001 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

More Florida Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Georgia
Georgia Marriages to 1850 is searchable online at Ancesty.com

Georgia Marriages 1851-1900 is searchable online at Ancesty.com Georgia Marriages1699-1944 is searchable online at Ancesty.com

More Georgia Marriages Databases are searchable online at Ancesty.com

Marriage Records of Bolloch County Georgia is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Idaho
Idaho Marriages 1842-1996 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Western States Marriage Index contains a significant number of Idaho marriage records and is searchable online for free. Virtually all pre-1930 entries recorded in local counties have been entered and many eastern Idaho counties have been extracted as late as the 1950's. See website for detailed listing by county.

Illinois
Illinois Marriages 1851-1900 is searchable online at Ancesry.com

Illinois Marriages 1790-1860 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Illinois Marriages to 1850 is searchable online at Ancesty.com

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index 1763-1900 is searchable online for free at the Illinois State Archives

Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index 1930-1960 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Piatt County, Illinois Marriage and Cemetery Records 1841-1852 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Cook County, Illinois Marriages 1871-1920 is searchable online at FamilySearch Record Search for free.

Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records 1729-1956 is searchable online at FamilySearch Record Search for free.

Indiana
Indiana Marriages to 1850 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Indiana Marriage Collection 1800-1941 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Indiana Marriages 1802-1892 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Marriage records of Kosciusko County, Indiana is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Marriage records St. Joseph County, South Bend, Indiana is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Whitley County, Indiana Marriage Records 1838-1860 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

More Indiana Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Indiana Marriages through 1850 is searchable online at the Indiana State Library

Indiana Marriages 1993-2002 is searchable online at the Indiana State Library

Iowa
Iowa Marriages to 1850 is searchable online at Ancesty.com

Iowa Marriages 1851-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Early Iowa Marriages 1850 and Before is searchable online at the Iowa GenWeb project

Kansas
Kansas Marriage Index 1854-1873 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Leavenworth County, Kansas Marriage Records 1900-1920 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Kentucky
Kentucky Marriages 1851-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Kentucky Marriage Records, 1852-1914 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Kentucky Marriage Index 1973-1999 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other Kentucky Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Kentudky Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana Marriage Records Index 1831-1925 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Louisiana Marriage Records 1851-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Marriage contracts of French Colonial Louisiana is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Maine
Maine Marriages 1892-1966 is searchable online at World Vital Records

Main Marriages 1892-1996 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other Maine Marriages are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Maryland
Maryland Marriages 1655-1850 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Maryland Marriages 1667-1899 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some Maryland Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Maryland Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Massachusetts
Massachusetts Marriages 1633-1850 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Massachusetts Town Marriage Records is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other Massachusetts Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Massachusetts Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Vital Records of Massachusetts to the year 1850 books are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Vital Records of Massachusetts to the year 1850 books are searchable online at Google Books

Michigan
Michigan Marriage Records 1870-1887 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Michigan Marriages 1851-1875 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Michigan Marriages to 1850 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Michigan Marriages 1868-1925 is searchable online at FamilySearch Record Search for free.

Minnesota
Minnesota Marriage Collection 1958-2001 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Mississippi
Mississippi Marriages 1776-1935 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some Mississippi Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Mississippi Marriages Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Missouri
Missouri Marriages 1766-1983 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Missouri Marriage Records 1805-2002 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Missouri Marriages 1851-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other Missouri Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Missouri Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Missouri Marriage Lookups online database contains marriages from several counties in Missouri

Montana
Western States Marriage Index contains extensive listing of pre-1900 Montana marriages for most counties and some extracted entries for post-1900. The site is searchable online for free.

Nebraska
Nebraska Marriages 1856-1898 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Douglas County, Nebraska Marriages 1854-1881 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Nevada
Western States Marriage Index contains an extensive listing of pre-1930 Nevada Marriages and is searchable online for free. See website for details listed by county.

Nevada Marriages 1860-1987 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Nevada Marriage Index 1956-2005 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other Nevada Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

New Hampshire
Some New Hampshire Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

New Jersey
Some New Jersey Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

New Mexico
New Mexico Marriages 1727-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Western States Marriage Index contains some very early New Mexico marriages and is searchable online for free.

New York
New York City Marriages 1600-1800s is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some New York Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more New York Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

North Carolina
North Carolina Marriage Collection 1741-2004 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other North Carolina Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more North Carolina Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Ohio
Ohio Marriages 1803-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some Ohio Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Ohio Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Ohio Diocese of Toleto Catholic Parish Records 1784-2004 is searchable online for free at FamilySearch Record Search.

Oklahoma
Payne County, Oklahoma Marriages 1894-1899 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Oregon
Western States Marriage Index contains extensive holdings of eastern Oregon county marriage records and is searchable online for free. Some early marriage entries for western counties are also included. See website for details.

Oregon Marriages 1906-1920 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some Oregon Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Marriages to 1810 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some Pennsylvania Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Pennsylvania Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Marriage Indexes 1885-1951 is searchable online at FamilySearch Record Search for free.

Rhode Island
Rhode Island Marriages 1636-1930 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some Rhode Island Marriage Databases are searchable online at World Vital Records

Vital Records of Rhode Island 1636-1850 book is searchable online at Google Books

South Carolina
South Carolina Marriages 1641-1965 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some South Carolina Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more South Carolina Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

South Dakota
South Dakota Marriages 1905-1949 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Tennessee
Tennessee State Marriages 1780-2002 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some Tennessee Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Tennessee Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Texas
Texas Marriages 1968-2003 is searchable online at World Vital Records.

Texas Marriage Collection 1814-1909 and 1966-2002 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other Texas Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Genlookups.com for Texas marriages

Utah
Western States Marriage Index contains an extensive collection of Utah marriages with many counties extracted into the 2006 time frame. See website for detailed listings by county. It is searchable online for free.

Vermont
Vermont Marriage Index 1981-1984 and 1989-2001 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Virginia
Virginia Marriages 1740-1850 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Virginia Marriages 1851-1929 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Virginia Marriages to 1850 is searchable online at Ancesty.com

Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records 1639-1850 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some other Virginia Marriage Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Some more Virginia Marriages Databases are searchable online at Ancestry.com

Freedmen's Bureau Virginia Marriages 1815-1866 is searchable online at FamilySearch Record Search for free.

Washington
Western States Marriage Index contains some Washington Marriages and is searchable online for free.

Washington Marriages 1802-1902 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Washington DC
Washington DC Marriages to 1825 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Washington DC Marriages 1826-1850 is seachable online at Ancestry.com

West Virginia
West Virginia Marriage Records 1863-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

West Virginia Marriages 1853-1970 is searchable online at FamilySearch Record Search for free.

Wisconsin
Wisconsin Genealogy Index pre-1907 is searchable online at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Wisconsin Marriages pre-1907 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Wisconsin Marriages 1835-1900 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Wisconsin Marriages 1973-1997 is searchable online at Ancestry.com

Wyoming
Western States Marriage Index contains a considerable listing of early Wyoming marriages and is searchable online for free. For details see website.