Vital Records are so important in genealogical research. It helps to know when the state began to require record Birth, Marriage, and Death to be recorded. Be aware that a death record does NOT mean that death certificate was required or recorded. In Alabama, the years are: Birth – 1908 | Marriage – 1936 |… Read More »
Look at the ages of your ancestors when they had their “first” marriage. Was their age at that “first” marriage old enough that there might have been a marriage before the marriage you think was their “first?”
© Michael John Neill, “Genealogy Tip of the Day,” http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com, 29 Jun 2012.
Today (Nov 1st) a member came on her lunch hour to the Nichols Library. She has found a fascinating bit about one of her female ancestors.
Our research was able to obtain the marriage license for the lady in question & the expected spouse. *BUT* surprise!
While most couples who took out a marriage license did marry, it is always possible that they did not. If there is a record that a couple got a license, indicate in your records that it is a license date, not a marriage date. Even if they did marry, there’s no guarantee that they married on the same date as the license.
And clearly indicating that the date is a license date tells others (and yourself) that the marriage record has not been located.
© Michael John Neill, “Genealogy Tip of the Day,” http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com, 20 Jun 2012.
Note from Site Admin: I found a marriage license for a now deceased uncle, but no marriage license. After checking with family members, they were never married. In Missouri (at the time) the license is stamed REJECTED with the reason that the licensse was never used within 30 days.
Are you losing great-grandma at the very end of her life? Is it possible she married very late in life and her last name changed?
Took me a long time to find an ancestor of my wife who married her second husband in her late 60s. I assumed (incorrectly) that when her first husband died when she was in her early 60s that she never remarried. She didn’t disappear, but instead died and was buried under her second husband’s last name.
© Michael John Neill, “Genealogy Tip of the Day,” http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com, 18 Jul 2012.