Iowa Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Iowa

What is in the Collection?
This index is an electronic index for the years 1809 to 1992. This index is not complete for any particular place, region or time period. This collection may include information previously published in the International Genealogical Index or Vital Records Index collections.

Coverage Table and Map
A coverage table for this collection is available in the wiki article Iowa Marriages, Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records). To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of Iowa marriages, click here.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Most records in this collection include the following information:
 * Name
 * Name of spouse
 * Event date and place

Some records may contain the following:
 * Birth dates and places
 * Ages
 * Parents' names
 * Race
 * Marital status

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of the marriage.
 * The place where the marriage occurred.
 * The name of the intended spouse.
 * The names of the parents.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

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.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For details about the contents of these records and help using them see the wiki article Marriages Vital Record Index Collections (FamilySearch Historical Records).

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Print or download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. The information may also lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Search for additional marriages of other relatives
 * Search for birth and death records for your ancestors
 * Search for land and probate records.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):