indexing marriage records

Michael Hinckley

I am trying to index marriage records and it asks for the date of marriage but the documents only provide date of license--should I put that information even though it may be different from the date of marriage?

tndavis

If you look at your Project Instructions, it will usually tell you the order of priority for the marriage date, such as 1. marriage date 2. license date 3. date of application, etc. (Your PI list may vary depending on the project.) You would enter the best date available.

Michael Hinckley

Unfortunately, it only asks for the marriage date but it only provides the license date (and it doesn't ask for the license date)

Marian McDonald_1

Hi Michael. Could you provide the batch number you are working on so that we might be better able to help you? You can find that number at the top of the batch you're working on. It is a number surrounded by brackets and probably starting with an M...example: [M9LV-JJ7].

Thank you for indexing these records.

John Empoliti

@Michael Hinckley Please post the batch code for the best answer, as Marian requested.

I found three marriage projects. And, as @tndavis mentioned, if you click on the Marriage Day Field and then on the purple question mark that appears (the “Field Help”), you will get instructions for acceptable substitutes, in priority order, for the actual Marriage Date. I found three Marriage Projects, and here is what the Field Helps for Marriage Day say. Your batch should have a Marriage Day Field Help that looks like one of these. Note that License Date is an acceptable substitute for the actual Marriage Date in every project, if the actual Marriage Date is not available.

US, Virginia—Marriage Records, 1730–1901 [Part D]

Index the date that the marriage actually took place. The date of the actual marriage may be preceded by the phrases "time of marriage" or "married on." If the actual marriage date was not recorded, index the marriage date based on the following priority:

1. Certificate date
2. License date
3. Return date
4. Bond date
5. Latest banns date
6. Any other date pertaining to marriage

UK, England, Lincolnshire—Marriage Bonds and Allegation

Index the date that the marriage actually took place. If the actual marriage date was not recorded, index the marriage date based on the following priority:

1. License date
2. Bond date
3. Date the marriage record was signed
4. Consent date

US, Missouri—County Marriages, 1806–1969

If a marriage date was not indicated, type the date based on the following priority:

1. License date
2. Latest banns date
3. Consent date
4. Recording date
5. Any date other than a birth date

Michael Hinckley

Thank you

Here is the Batch IDM9LV-2N2 if someone wouldn't mind looking at it and telling me what you think

MinnWisRoots

Michael,

If you haven't figured out from John Empoliti's answer above, you use the Date of Issuing License for the marriage date in your "US, Missouri—County Marriages, 1806–1969" batch.

Unfortunately, the examples in the Project Instructions didn't show an example like the batch you got. Then the Field Instructions will usually give you the answer, as John indicated.

Hope this answers your question, so you can index your batch. 😊

Melissa S Himes

Hi Michael!

Thank you for sharing your batch. As noted above, the license date is used when the marriage date is not available. But, I want to give you a time saving tip. When there is no asterisk beside the field title, like the Bride's Age, Grooms Age, and all those parental names, you can skip over them. They don't have to be rendered blank. Only fields with asterisks are required fields.

Happy Indexing!