The Jackson County marriage index starts with 1827 (about the time the County was organized) and here's what is stated in one of the books I have: "Often a minister or Justice of the Peace would perform a marriage in an outlying area and then wait until he was in Independence to record the marriage in the courthouse." And: "Since the person who performed the marriage did the actual writing in the Recorder's book, there are many different styles and qualities of penmanship." So although it may be true that a marriage license was not necessary prior to 1881, the recording of Jackson County marriages at the courthouse started in 1827 at Independence and beginning in 1881, Jackson County marriages were recorded at one of two courthouses: Independence or Kansas City. John ----- Original Message ----- From: <Pozzydaz@aol.com> To: <KansasCity-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 1:48 PM Subject: Re: [KansasCity] Independence, MO - news items - 12 April 1881 > In a message dated 6/9/2003 11:58:38 PM Mountain Daylight Time, > JohnOBrien@kc.rr.com writes: > > > Dave WALLACE has been very much worried of late by parties applying for > > license to marry. We will state for the benefit of all that the law requiring > > license does not take effect for several weeks, and that everybody can marry > > now without license --- everybody willing, of course. > > > > Is this right????????? No wonder we have problems finding records. > This is the first time I've heard of this. How about others????????? > > Pat F.

I would like to add a couple of comments to this discussion. I finally gave up on finding a marriage licence for my great-grandparents in Chicago in 1882. The reason was that although a marriage license was required, they (and also the minister who married them)spoke very little English. According to the county offices, an application was filled out, but the papers were never returned to their office to be filed. I don't think they understood they were supposed to. This could have happened in Kansas City also. Either because of misunderstanding or sometimes because they felt like it was none of the government's business people didn't comply with the filing rules in the early years. Some of us will probably never find those precious documents we hope will give us the missing "piece to our puzzle". If you know the church where they were married, I would suggest trying to find the church records. They sometimes have more information then the marriage certificate anyway. Hope this helps some of you. Anita in MO --- John O'Brien <JohnOBrien@kc.rr.com> wrote: > The Jackson County marriage index starts with 1827 > (about the time the > County was organized) and here's what is stated in > one of the books I have: > "Often a minister or Justice of the Peace would > perform a marriage in an > outlying area and then wait until he was in > Independence to record the > marriage in the courthouse." And: "Since the > person who performed the > marriage did the actual writing in the Recorder's > book, there are many > different styles and qualities of penmanship." > > So although it may be true that a marriage license > was not necessary prior > to 1881, the recording of Jackson County marriages > at the courthouse started > in 1827 at Independence and beginning in 1881, > Jackson County marriages were > recorded at one of two courthouses: Independence or > Kansas City. > > John > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <Pozzydaz@aol.com> > To: <KansasCity-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 1:48 PM > Subject: Re: [KansasCity] Independence, MO - news > items - 12 April 1881 > > > > In a message dated 6/9/2003 11:58:38 PM Mountain > Daylight Time, > > JohnOBrien@kc.rr.com writes: > > > > > Dave WALLACE has been very much worried of late > by parties applying for > > > license to marry. We will state for the benefit > of all that the law > requiring > > > license does not take effect for several weeks, > and that everybody can > marry > > > now without license --- everybody willing, of > course. > > > > > > > Is this right????????? No wonder we have problems > finding records. > > This is the first time I've heard of this. How > about others????????? > > > > Pat F. > > > > > ==== KansasCity Mailing List ==== > USGENWEB SEARCH ARCHIVES > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion > online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com