[email protected] wrote: >This is the first time I've seen a reference to the existence of marriage >licences in the US. Opens up quite a few possibilities if they are traceable. We have marriage licenses (why pass up the opportunity for the government to collect a fee?), but they're probably not as easily traced as yours. To begin with, they're issued by each individual county. Some have been archived at the county level, others by the appropriate state. Copies may be available from one or the other or both with prices varying widely; some jurisdictions will only provide copies to direct descendants... For discussion purposes, consider this website: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/cgi-bin/archives/marriage.html The site info begins : "Welcome to the . . . . Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900" Which sounds very impressive. But of course, the United States didn't exist as a governing entity in 1763. The Territory of Illinois (encompasing present-day Illinois, Wisconsin, and eastern Minnesota) was established on 1 Mar 1809. The State of Illinois (all 2 counties of it!) was admitted to the Union on 3 Dec 1818. There are now 103 counties in Illinois, and some states (Virginia, for example), lost territory to other states - you begin to see the problems in finding the appropriate license. And guessing where to look can be a problem. People researching the last half of the 20th century may wonder why so many people got married in such an out-of-the-way place as Clark County, Nevada... otherwise known as Las Vegas. Laws concerning marriage vary from state to state, so there are times (consagnuintity or age probably most likely) when people will drive to another state in order to marry, but leave no other record there. I periodically search for a surname of interest at rootsweb.com, just to see if there are any new indices since the last time I checked. -- *Marsha L. Ensminger __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with [email protected]! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

Thanks, Marsha for the great answer -- Cathy > > We have marriage licenses (why pass up the opportunity for the government to collect a fee?), but they're probably not as easily traced as yours. >