Hi Cheryl, Good question and I am glad someone asked. The ages given are NOT the true ages of the applicants for a marriage license. The actual license says "that he (the license witness) knows the former to be above the age of __ years, and the latter to be above the age of __ years..." The legal age was 21 for men, 18 for women. Only in a few instances are the ages written as anything other than 21 and 18. If either of the parties were under the age of 21 or 18, there was a written letter of consent from the parents. Jan At 10:22 PM 12/16/2000 -0500, you wrote: >I want to thank Jan and Jane for all the extra work they do for all of us who are so far from "home." Without their help, there is so much I wouldn't know or even have thought about. > >I do have one little question about the marriage records, though: are the numbers listed after the groom and bride's names their ages? If so, a serious error was made on the license for my g-g-grandmother and her second husband. It would appear that their ages were 21 and 18... pretty hard to believe when the bride had a 21-year-old son and one of her daughters acted as witness. If the numbers aren't their ages, what else might they be? > >Cheryl Smith > > > >