https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/5427eb22-560e-4572-bda3-b24ae77ff0f2

JKHardy49

US Alaska Mixed records: I cannot figure out for sure if a marriage has actually taken place - sometimes there is a date under date of marriage, place of marriage; if not, do I use the date next to the magistrate/commissioners signature? Thank you!

erutherford

You will follow the Marriage Date field help (purple question mark):

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. Certificate date 
2. Recorded date 
3. License or Application date 
4. Latest (usually 3rd) date of banns (public announcements of marriage) 
5. Return date 

Since it does not specifically state that 5/3/1970 is the marriage date, you will use 4/30/1970, the application date.

JKHardy49

That is interesting and I will do that. However, Doing research in Danish records in 1800's for an ancestor, marriage information in the Parish registry ended with additional information by saying "marriage did not take place". There is no way to know if these Alaska marriages took place when it does not actually put the date under "marrige date".

erutherford

The law varies from state to state on how long the application/license is good for and/or where you can get married. I can't speak for 1970, but my husband and I applied for one in December 2013, but I got sick a month later and he was diagnosed with cancer six months after that. We had to reapply when we got married in 2015 because they are only good for 60 days and for the issuing county only in my state.