Cathy, The 1859 marriage records do not list the parents names. But in most cases will list the minister, or Justice of the Peace who performed the marriage, and the county recorder who recorded it. Possibly also the residence of either bride or groom if they were from out of the county, for example "John Brown of Montgomery Co. Illinois and Miss Jane Jones were united...". At one time it was a common practice to list a bondmen on the marriage record for the bride if she were underaged. But as far as I know by 1840 or so the practice of actually recording the name of the bondsman on the marriage record itself was beginning to be dropped. It would seem though that if the bride or groom were legally underage to be married then there must have been some legal way of showing to the county court that permission had been granted by the parents for the marriage. Even so it seems that if that permission were there, then it was not found necessary by the county court to be recorded on the marriage record, as in the past it had once been found necessary to record. A marriage record of 1859 will have name of parties being married, minister's record that he married the parties on such and such date, and recorders record that such and such marriage was entered into the county record book on such and such a date. I should also mention that women previously married would often be listed, for example, as, "John Jones and Mrs. Jane Smith were united..." This indicates the husband of the bride was dead or divorced. But often as not a woman previously married could be listed as Jane Smith with no indication of her previous marriage. Yet it is also found in some cases that if her first marriage were of short duration, she might revert back to her maiden name. Discerning all these possibilities are the work of the genealogist. If you don't actually know much about the bride or groom, look back in the records of where your ancestos lived for earlier marriages. If you find John Jones married Jane Smith, make sure her maiden name is Smith and that Smith was not her previous married name, that way you should be able to connect her to her parents. Jim Windsor