Research by Subject: Genealogy
  
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BEST FREE ONLINE MARRIAGE RESOURCES

GENERAL RESOURCES

 Is it out there?

You might first want to check to see if marriage records were recorded (and survived) for the place and time

Vital Rec.com has a state by state inventory.  This site has really become cluttered - scroll down to the STATE MENU and go to your appropriate state.  Each state page will have their main vital statistics link that give information and if you go down further you will see county links to tell what is held at the county level.  If a record can be gotten at the county level it is usually less expensive. 

for eastern states and the midwest the LDS Family History Catalog search is an excellent source because it will also list added information.  Most early American marriages were filmed if they existed with the exception of some of the more western states and may be borrowed by film through Salt Lake.

you might also check your county GenWeb page [see below] which often give bibliographies of what has survived.

If you are working in an area like early New York - a state that did not record early marriages - you have to hunt for church records, newspaper notices, Bible records and implied marriages (ie. John Brown sells land to son-in-law James Craig and wife Elizabeth daughter of the said John Brown)

It SHOULD be out there - where can I look?

IGI - from FamilySearch is a quick "first look" but remember you still need verification somewhere else if you are basing your research on the marriage in question as many marriages on the IGI are guesses, from memory etc.


WorldConnect - has many marriages but remember it is a gedcom database of other people's research so like the IGI you need confirmation by an authoritative source. 

If you are a member of Ancestry.com you might also try their gedcom databases like Ancestry's One World Tree  [FREE] or their One World Tree database [REQUIRES SUBSCRIPTION]

GENWED - Some states and areas are much more complete than others but they also include information about where to write for a record.

GENWEB PROJECT - go to the state and county page and see if they have transcribed marriages

GENWEB ARCHIVES - go to the state and county page to see if someone has transcribed pages

GOOGLE - particularly useful if you know the bride and groom but not the date - on the search line put each name in quotes:
"Richard Covington"  "Jane Stephens" and hit enter.  If you don't know the spouse you might try
"Richard Covington" marriage Alabama and hit enter
or something similar and see what it pulls up.

Also google the county courthouse site for your county and make sure they don't have them there.  Some counties are scanning in early certificates or providing a database of marriages.

I Dream Of Genealogy also has many marriages [some states are much stronger than others]