Kansas, Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The collection consists of an index to selected marriage records throughout Kansas for the years 1811 to 1911.

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.

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.

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 index was created to provide an easy access to specific marriages in the collection. 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.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following may be included:
 * The name of the groom
 * The maiden name of the bride
 * The date of the marriage
 * the place of marriage
 * Residences of the bride and groom

Coverage Map
To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of Kansas marriages, click here.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching the collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate date of marriage
 * The place where the marriage occurred

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date and to find other records such as birth, christening, census, land and death records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members. Witnesses or bondsmen were usually relatives.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Kansas, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Kansas Archives and Libraries.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

"Kansas, Marriages, 1811-1911." Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Citing district clerk, county clerk and register offices from various counties. Kansas State Historical Society.
 * Collection Citation:

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