If the database shows no marriage book volume and page number, and gives an approximate year of marriage (as appears in quotation marks below), the couple was probably married outside of Union County and the marriage info is quite likely taken from Perrin's "History of Alexander, Union & Pulaski Counties." These two couples were married in Stewart Co TN: BIGGS, DAVIS W ANDERSON, THISBE (MAR CA 1825) 00/00/0000 UNION FERRELL THOMAS ANDERSON, ELIZABETH (MAR CA 1818) 00/00/0000 UNION A marriage that took place in the county would more likely look like this: SMITH, ALBERT J GRIFFITH, MARY 08/17/1862 2/ 334 UNION It's misleading to have these non-Union County or non-Illinois marriages in the database, but one helpful thing about it is that, when you run across one, it's an indication to look in Perrin's "History" for a biography. ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Williams" <[email protected]> To: <> Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 2:27 PM Subject: [ILUNION] Illinois State marriage database record accuracy > Thought I'd share this information about the online Illinois Statewide > Marriage Index, 1763-1900 accuracy. While this database has been a terrific > aid in researching my Union County ancestors, this is yet one more reminder > for me to document, document, document.... > > Calloway County, KY records show that John Bittle and Hanna Kits were > married in Calloway County KY on 25 May 1826. When looking for Bittle > marriages in the Illinois online database, I came across an entry for the > marriage of John Bittle and Hannah Kitts. Surprised to see any Illinois > marriage listed for them, I sent an email in hopes of finding out the source > of this entry. > > Here is the reply I received. > > The statewide marriage index was the first Archives-sponsored database in > which > the data was entered by volunteers and managed by State Archives staff. In > those > early days marriages were entered from several sources, including > publications > listing Illinois marriages. Some of these published sources have proven to > be > unreliable or to contain data that was not documented. > > Some of the Union County marriages in our database were taken from > "Marriages of > Union County 1818-1880" compiled by Ernest Harding Jackson ... >Mr. Jackson further indicated that the > source for most of these marriages was William Henry Perrin's "History of > Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties." A few marriages were based on > "correspondence and census records..."