Joined Together: Finding & Transcribing Marriage Records

The best source for locating marriage records is the Catalog at FamilySearch. I always begin with the county where the person of interest lived. Marriage records are found in the category of Vital Records, and the best source for original records is the local county government, whether it is the county clerk or the court clerk, depending on how the government is organized.

Many of these vital records have been indexed and placed in larger databases that can be searched at the Records menu on the FamilySearch website or at other subscription databases like Ancestry. If the index includes an image, even better. If the person who married the couple was a minister, priest, or rabbi, do try to locate the church record of the marriage as it may contain additional information.

After locating marriage records, do you transcribe them or just extract the information you want from them? I tend to do one or the other. Marriage records have a lot of boiler plate wording that is common from marriage record to marriage record. Some records are completely handwritten and others might have a form where the non-boiler plate information is filled in the blanks.

In particular, here is a transcription of a part of a marriage certificate concerning August Sievert and Martha Streich that was issued by the church:

“That Mr. August Sievert of Joliet in the State of Illinois and Miss Martha Streich of Joliet in the State of Illinois were at St. John’s Catholic Church in said County by me joined together in Holy Matrimony on the 15th day of Febr in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight hundred and eighty-one.” Signed by Rev. F. Eugene Press, and the witnesses Joseph Birkey and Elizabeth Freitag.[1]

portion of marriage record from St. John's Catholic Church

Now contrast that with the wording from the marriage certificate issued by the county for the same marriage. This portion was below the marriage license information which gave names and residences:

“I Eugene Press a catholic priest hereby certify that Mr. August Sievert and Miss Martha Streich were united in Marriage by me at St. John’s Catholic Church Joliet in the County of Will and State of Illinois, on the 15th day of February AD 1881.” Signed by the witnesses Joseph Birkey and Elizabeth Freitag.[2]

Will Co, Ill. civil marriage

Although the basic information about the couple, date of marriage, and location of marriage is the same, the boiler plate language is different. The county record has a more secular language “united in Marriage” instead of the religious saying “joined together in Holy Matrimony.”

In Indiana, the county record used the phrase “joined together as Husband and Wife.”[3]

In Ohio, the county record used the phrase “joined together in the holy state of matrimony.”[4]

There could be many more examples but these were the only locations where I had transcribed the whole document into my RootsMagic database. It would be a good idea to transcribe some documents from a locality to better understand the language used in those documents.

#52Ancestors-Week 12: Joined Together

This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] Marriage certificate of August Sievert and Martha Streich, bottom portion only, copy received from Tom Manley, who is grandson of the couple.

[2] Will County, Illinois, marriage record, no. 8391, August Sievert to Martha Strich, Family History Library, film 2342828.

[3] For example, see "Indiana Marriages 1811-1959," database & digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6GL2-NZ?i=195 : accessed 27 Mar 2022) > Clark > 1865-1869, Volume I, image 196; citing Clark County marriages, vol. 1, p 380, Joseph McFall-Catherine Rosa Davy.

[4] See "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016", digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1614804 : accessed 27 Mar 2022), > Ross > marriage registers 1808-1809 vol A > image 69 of 101; citing Ross County, marriage record, vol. A, p 120, 1807, Robert Bishop-Sally Hill, citing Ross County courthouse, Chillicothe, Ohio.

Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.