welcome to the ancestral findings podcast marriage records are a basic part of genealogy research
and are usually among the first official family records that beginning genealogists find there can
be a variety of information included on marriage records depending on when and where the record was
created these are some examples of the types of information you may find on these records
marriage records are a basic part of genealogy research they are among the first set of records
you will probably collect on your family as you begin your genealogy work while a marriage record
can at the very least confirm that a couple were actually wed as well as tell you the date and
place they married all things you may or may not have known a marriage record can tell you much
more or nothing else at all depending on when and where the record was first created these are some
of the basic pieces of information you may or may not find in marriage records depending on
when and where your ancestors married the bride's maiden name most marriage records will provide at
least this information even ancient ones but don't rely on it there are exceptions to this rule where
a bride may only be listed by her first name or is referred to simply as the daughter of whatever her
family's name was but in most cases a marriage record is a great way to find out a woman's
sometimes elusive maiden name the residence of the bride and groom if this information
is included on a marriage record it will give you at least one location and sometimes two for
looking for more relatives of the happy couple the ages of the bride and groom while it may or
may not be on a marriage record its inclusion gives you more information for your family tree
as well as providing you another clue as to years to search in that area for other ancestors
the parents of the bride groom less commonly seen on older marriage records but still occasionally
found this information is more commonly found on newer records depending on the
state in which you are searching if you didn't have the names of the parents of the bride
groom or both before this information will prove invaluable to your family history research whether
the bride and groom's parents are alive or not a far less common bit of marriage record information
it is a piece of genealogical gold if it is included this will let you know an approximate
range of dates for searching for the bride and groom's parents in other records the name of the
minister who married them if you know the name of the minister who married the couple you can locate
the church they attended and maybe find other records on them and their family members there
witnesses to the marriage witness names are often but not always included on marriage records as
most places required at least two of them for a marriage to be legal pay close attention to the
names of any witnesses listed on the marriage record as these are often friends or family of
the bride and groom looking for the records associated with the witnesses may lead you
to other previously unknown information about the bride groom and their respective families
thanks for listening to the ancestral findings podcast you can subscribe
to the podcast on youtube and itunes also check out ancestralfindings.com
for free ebooks and weekly giveaways happy searching