In a message dated 6/11/2003 9:07:03 AM Eastern Standard Time, sew_what_2000@yahoo.com writes: > 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. Or, that the marriage never took place. A marriage license does not necessarily prove that a marriage took place or when, any more than a getting a fishing license proved that you went fishing. I don't know how it was in the Chicago area, but in most places I have researched, marriage returns were supplied by the clergyman or justice of the peace who performed the marriage ceremony, and not by the presumably happy and no doubt distracted newlyweds. It did sometimes happen that there was a change of heart after the license was issued, or that the couple decided to elope and were married in a different jurisdiction. Your point about the spotty record of compliance during the early years of mandatory vital record keeping is well made. There are all kinds of frustrating gaps in the records of most states, I think, at least during the late 1800s. Regards, Ted Snediker