Dear Jenniffer:

WHERE TO FIND A MARRIAGE RECORD...

I thought I knew that my parents were married in Schuylkill Co., PA, during the very early 1930s. About five years ago, before the online index, I wrote to Schuylkill Co. for a copy of their marriage license application without success.

Last year, I found a menu from the Bermuda honeymoon cruise my parents took. It had a date in late August 1931. I felt that finally I had all the information I needed. I wrote again to Schuylkill Co. without success. I then wrote to all the surrounding counties hoping that they were married in a town close to the Schuylkill Co. border. Again no luck.

Then, in desperation, I wrote to the Philadelphia City Archives (they were living in Philadelphia at the time) giving them the estimated date. They had the application, license and the conformation slip that the person who performed the marriage, as required by law, returned to the city stating that the marriage took place in Ellengowen, Schuylkill Co., PA, and stating the date and the priest's name. My parents had driven the 120 miles to Mahanoy Township and then to Jackson's Village, to my mother's mother's home to be married, but they applied for the license in Philadelphia.

In Pennsylvania, the county that ISSUES the license, NOT the county in which it takes place, is the one that receives the marriage conformation document after the marriage takes place. The county in which the marriage takes place has no record of the marriage unless the license was issued there.

I recall hearing that the above is true in a number of other states. So check the state regulations and where they (woman first) were living before the wedding. The next best bets are area church records.

TRY A NEW SEARCH METHOD...

Jenniffer, enter in the bride's first name box "M" and in the surname box "K" and in the groom's "M" and "O" without the quotes. You will get all the couples with the same initials. If unsuccessful, try just the bride and then just the groom. Then try just the first initials and then the surname initials. Play around with various combinations.

Your problem could be a misspelling. My grandparents were married in Schuylkill Co. but no application showed up in the Index. Their name is spelled McClosley but it was entered on the application and the Index as McClosky, the "e" was missing. When I tried just their last initials there they were. I later tried McC and up popped other members of the family.

Let us all know what, if any, success you have.

Good luck with your research. ~Jack Novicki