Ohio, County Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Ohio 

What is in the Collection?
The "Ohio County Marriages, 1789-2013" collection consists of index and images of county marriage records within the state of Ohio, acquired from local courthouses. The records consist of:
 * Licenses
 * Certificates
 * Declarations
 * Affidavits
 * Loose documents
 * Abstracts
 * Licenses to perform marriages

The records are generally arranged by:
 * County, volume and date
 * License number
 * Page number

The "Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1942" is a name index to marriage records from the state of Ohio. Microfilm copies of some of these records are available at the Family History Library and FamilySearch Centers. Due to privacy laws, recent records may not be displayed. The year range represents most of the records. A few records may be earlier or later. Images containing social security numbers of living individuals are restricted and cannot be viewed. Images within the same digital folder as a restricted image are also unavailable.

Coverage Map
A coverage map of cut-off dates for marriages in Ohio County is found at Ohio County Marriages Restriction Dates.

Sample Images
County marriage records have been kept from about the time the county was formed to the present. The marriages were recorded by clerks of the various courts. In Ohio the probate court usually recorded marriages, although the court of common pleas also recorded some early marriages. In 1949 the state assumed responsibility for recording marriages.

Most marriages in a county were recorded. However, some religious groups may not have reported church marriages to civil authorities. General compliance with the civil registration process increased after civil registration began in 1949.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
County marriage records include the following information:


 * Names of bride and groom
 * Date and place where license issued
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Date marriage was recorded
 * Name of officiator

Beginning about 1870:


 * Ages of bride and groom
 * Bride and groom's place of residence
 * Bride and groom's place of birth
 * Occupation
 * Names of parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Names of witnesses, if any
 * Title of officiator

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name.
 * Other identifying information such as a possible marriage date and place.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "County" ⇒Select the "Record Type, Year Range, and Volume" which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

With either search keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as a title, an occupation, or land ownership. Add this new information to your records of each family. The information may also lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information. Remember that marriage licenses do not guarantee that the marriage took place. Look for certification on the record or an adjacent image.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth dates or ages along with the place listed to find the family in other records such as census, church, and land records.
 * Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records.*The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record.
 * The facts that were current at the time of the marriage, such as marriage date, residence, and so on, were usually accurate, although some misinformation may have been given. Other facts that relied on a person’s memory, such as age or birthplace, were more likely to have been incorrect.
 * Examine the images before and after the marriage record to see if identification documents for resident aliens are present.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Search for the marriage record of the marriage partner if known.
 * Check for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local historical and genealogical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the records of nearby counties.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, plea se email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image citation: