Selected Counties of Ohio, 1789-1850 Marriage Index About the Data This data set provides information on approximately 607,000 individuals whose marriages were recorded in 85 Ohio counties between 1789 and 1850. Compiled primarily from local county courthouse records, all of Ohio's counties are represented here except for Fulton and Monroe whose records were unfortunately destroyed by fire. Fully indexed, this is a valuable resource because it brings together previously uncollected marriage records and provides easy access to information that you would otherwise have to obtain from local sources. The information collected here was expertly compiled by Liahona Research of Orem, Utah. Generally, if you find an ancestor among these records you'll learn the following information: Full name Name of spouse Marriage date Marriage location Family History Library microfilm roll number on which you may be able to learn more information about the marriage. It is the purpose of this work to serve as a guide for your research - here you'll learn a place and time within which a marriage event occurred. It is advised that you consult a copy of the original record to verify and learn more information about a marriage. Usually, copies of the original record can be found on microfilm and you'll often learn the following information about the bride and/or groom: Age Date of birth Location of residence Information on previous marriages Parents' names To help you do this, almost every record lists information on where to find a copy of the referenced marriage record (usually a Family History Library microfilm roll). Notes on Names, Dates, and Locations Names - When a surname or given name was missing on the original records, three question marks were recorded in place of that name. Question marks have also been used to denote missing letters within a name. And, a question mark after a name indicates that the spelling was unclear. Please note that if the original records indicated that a woman was widowed, the title "Mrs." appears with her name. In many cases, her previous married name is in the record instead of her maiden name, although her maiden name may appear in place of her middle name. In noting this, however, it is important to remember that it was common practice to receive a parent's surname as a middle name, so a middle name that looks like a surname isn't necessarily a woman's maiden name. Dates - Usually, the date listed indicates the date of the wedding. However, when no marriage date was available, the date of the license application or the date that the license was issued was substituted. Sometimes, only the month and year of the marriage were given, in which case "1" was inserted for the day. In addition, if the day listed does not exist (for example, February 30) the date was changed to the last valid day in the month. Locations - Generally, the locations listed in marriage records indicates where the marriage licenses were issued. Historically, most marriage licenses were issued by and most marriage took place in the county where the bride lived. Notes on Multiple Records In some cases, you may find more than one marriage record for a couple. In these cases the differences between the records can provide you with important clues for your research. Possible differences include: Spelling variations - Names were recorded as they were found in the original records. When record of a marriage was found in more than one location, this may have resulted in variations in the way a name was recorded. To provide as many clues to your research as possible, all spellings have been included. Date discrepancies - If two dates are listed for a marriage, the first date will usually refer to the date of the marriageintention while the second usually refers to the date of the actual wedding. In doing your research, please remember that marriage intentions could be filed up to a year before the actual wedding took place. Location discrepancies - In some cases, record of a marriage was discovered in multiple locations. Some couples obtained a marriage license or bond in one county, but were married in another county (perhaps to be closer to relatives). For example, such marriages may have been listed in the second county as a result of the minister's returns to the county. Each of the locations have been included here so as to provide you with information on where you may wish to look for additional family information. Debbie (Noland) Nitsche Diamonddeb@comcast.net WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO HISTORICAL & GENEALOGY "LINKS" http://hometown.aol.com/washcohistory/Intropage1.html