Houston County Researchers: >> Sandra and I have one marriage that we can't believe didn't get filed. It was likely Tempie Howard's father married her as Michael Howard was a JP and married several other of his relatives, including his sons. We are sure they were married because they feature in church records after that time, in Houston Co. I feel if they hadn't married they would have been shunned. Is this marriage certificate likely to have been a loose paper not filed or pehaps just missed when they did the Marriage books. It was likely this marriage was prior to 1868. I guess we are lucky that we have found so many of the other dates and information. Billy, Thanks for the information, Gaila << If you cannot find a marriage record for your ancestors, which should be recorded in Houston Co., GA, here are some suggestions: 1. Maybe they resided in a neighboring county, and it is recorded in *that* county. Just because a family resided in Houston Co., GA on the 1850 & 1860 Census, there is a ten year gap when they could have been mobile. 2. I am assuming that you are relying on either Mr. Henry's Houston Co., GA Marriage Record books, or either the microfilmed copy which was taken about 1962. You will need to physically look at the *original* records at the Houston County courthouse. There are a good number of marriage records that have been *lost*. As I search thru the original Marriage Record books (and all types of other record books), I come across pages that have been "cut out" by a sharp instrument. Or, the glued-on original record has been "ripped loose" from the page, or just fell out, and is now gone. If this situation occurred prior to 1962, the record really is *lost*. 3. If the Marriage Records for a particular county have not been abstracted and published yet, don't rely on what the index at the front of the original Record Book says. If you are searching for the bride's name, it is NOT listed in about *half* of the cases. If possible, always look for the groom's name. This obvious *non-indexing* of the brides' names is a common occurrence throughout the State of Georgia. My personal opinion as to why this happened is as follows: Depending if the Clerk of the Court was a Baptist or a Methodist, *may* have had some influence on it. The Baptist doctrine at that time, followed very closely the teachings of the Bible at Ephesians 5:22-24. The Methodist doctrine at that time, followed more along the lines of tradition and contemporary reasoning. I believe that if I took the time to search this issue of the Court Clerk's denomination, I could show a preponderance of the evidence to back this opinion up. 4. Since you are searching for a circa 1850s marriage record, what I am now suggesting, won't apply. If you cannot find a marriage record from 1865 to 1968 in Houston County, it may have been *filed* in the Colored Marriage Record Books. Last year, I abstracted about 8,000 Houston County Marriage Records. And, since I am very familiar with the families of this county, I recognized that *several* of the White Marriage Records were *mistakenly* filed in the Colored Record Books. Other Georgia counties had started to record their Colored Marriage Records prior to the Civil War. But, in Houston County, they didn't do it until they were *instructed* to do so, AFTER the Civil War. The first Colored Marriage was recorded in April 1865. You should see how *fancy* the handwriting is on these Marriage Records. I can just picture the Court Clerk being *overseen* by a Federal Marshal during the time period right after the Civil War. If you may think that your ancestors' Marriage Record may have been *mistakenly* filed in with the Colored Marriage Records, you will have to go to the Houston County courthouse to do your research. That is where the only extant Record Books are located. And, those Record Books can be a "jambled-up mess" to look through. The Colored Marriages of Houston County have NEVER been microfilmed. And, from 1865 to 1900, there were about 3 times as many Colored Marriages as there were White Marriages in Houston county. At least it *appears* as such. As I mentioned, I abstracted about 8,000 Colored Marriage Records last year. I was originally going to publish these records, but decided to put it on hold. I started to enter this info into a database, but then got "side-lined" on another project. If I were to be asked to find a particular marriage record in those abstracts, it could take a few hours to sort thru them. This is because the Colored Marriage Records are not in any *particular* chronological order after about 1870. I've seen 1870 and 1885 records on the same page. When the Court Clerk glued the Colored Marriage Records into the Record Books, he must have "shuffled them up like cards" first. This caused me great confusion, and I almost overlooked a *complete record book* in the process. I *thought* I had finished abstracting the 1865 to 1900 Colored Marriage Records, and was then proceeding to repair and organize all of the old Record Books in the Probate Court. You should have seen the look on my face when I dug out *another* Colored Marriage Record book from behind a bottom shelf of the courthouse. And, it had about 2,000 more names in it! Most of the Colored Marriage Record Books were not originally numbered or lettered prior to last year. So, with the proper permission, I *designated* the first Record Book as "A", and then proceeded forward. However, when I reached Record Book "I" (1921 to 1929), the county had designated the next Record Book (1929 to 1941) as "O". In other words, there are NO "J, K, L, M, & N" Colored Marriage Record Books in Houston County. And, when you get up to Book "Q" (1965 to 1968), don't go looking for Book "R", because the Colored Marriage Records then become mixed in with the White Marriage Records in Record Book # 4. From then on, you can make "heads or tails" out of it, all the way up to the present time. I feel that it is absolutely necessary to include all of the above info about the Colored Marriage Records of Houston County, GA. There may be various reasons as to why so many of the White Marriages were *mixed* in with the Colored Marriage Record Books, but I think that you can "read between the lines". Take care, and happy hunting! _______________________________________ William A. Mills Perry, GA [email protected] Houston Co., GA Publications & Research Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/8795 =====================>>> On Sun, 2 Apr 2000 18:27:57 +1000 "Gaila & Jim Merrington" <[email protected]> writes: HI Sandra and I have one marriage that we can't believe didn't get filed. It was likely Tempie Howard's father married her as Michael Howard was a JP and married several other of his relatives, including his sons. We are sure they were married because they feature in church records after that time, in Houston Co. I feel if they hadn't married they would have been shunned. Is this marriage certificate likely to have been a loose paper not filed or pehaps just missed when they did the Marriage books. It was likely this marriage was prior to 1868. I guess we are lucky that we have found so many of the other dates and information. Billy, Thanks for the information, Gaila -------original message------ <snip> .... >> Prior to the GA Code of around 1868, most GA counties kept their marriage records in no particular uniform arrangement. However, after 1868 and the Reconstruction Period, things started to fit a particular pattern of order. Starting in the early 1900s, there was a detailed marriage application to fill out prior to marriage. This gave the names of the parents, where they were born, how old they were, etc. These records are locked in a long storage room in the basement of the courthouse. << ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.