2 Marriage Certificates for Same Couple
Hi,
I have found 2 marriage certificates for the same couple, though their names were slightly misspelled. The certificates are both from the state of Indiana, but different counties.
One certificate says they were married in Clay County, IN in 1889 (their daughter was born the very next year in 1890).
The other certificate says they were married in Sullivan County, IN in 1896 which was 1 year prior to the 2nd marriage of the husband.
I think the first certificate from Clay County is the correct one. But why would there be a 2nd marriage certificate for them 7 years later in a different county?
Any and all suggestions would be helpful! Thanks!
Answers
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Yes, I've encountered a similar situation in my research in England. I never solved the conundrum, but have thought it possibly had something to do with the first event having proved not to match legal requirements. Maybe there were circumstances that should have prevented the original event taking place, so the second event was necessary to ensure the marriage was completely legally binding.
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Going along with Paul W's comment, I've found cases where the couple were under the legal age to marry without permission the first time. The second marriage a year or two later cured the missing permission and the misstating of their ages.
Also could there have been a divorce between the two marriages? So that the second marriage was just a remarriage between the same couple?
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What is the evidence that these two records refer to the same couple? Are their parents' names given?
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I think that's a good possibility. I checked to see if the county boundaries where the earliest record was from, had changed, but they had not.
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Now that could be very likely. The husband was of age, but I do not know the exact birth year for the wife. I believe she was an orphan and most likely married at a young age with no parents to give her permission. I hadn't thought of that!
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Yes, parents names are the same on both certificates.
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The couple may have needed their certificate for some reason, perhaps preparing wills, and didn't have it, so solved that problem by getting a new one.
Clay and Sullivan county seats are 36 miles apart and both are fairly out of the way, so going back to Clay County for an official duplicate of the original certificate could have taken several days.
From Google Maps:
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I think you gave enough information to guess at the situation. "The other certificate says they were married in Sullivan County, IN in 1896 which was 1 year prior to the 2nd marriage of the husband."
That implies the first wife was probably dying or already deceased at the time of the move to Sullivan County. He probably had a legal issue pending that required proof his first marriage, and it might have been easier to simply record it in Sullivan. There is likely an interesting story behind this if you look in the court or chancery records when you have time. Knox county (just south of Sullivan) has a ton of their records digitized and searchable, so I would suspect other counties do too. EDIT: and if I had to take a guess, it would be related to land inheritance. That is the first thing I would look for.
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Hi,
I went back and looked at the other sources for this couple and had forgotten that their daughter, Cora, was married in 1909. Her parents are listed but their place of residence are different. Her father was living in Kentucky (that is where he married his 2nd wife). Her mother is listed as still living in Indiana, in the same place as her daughter, so the mother was still alive at the time of the later marriage certificate. I'm guessing they divorced. It makes sense that the father may have needed another marriage certificate to show the date of his first marriage before marrying his 2nd wife. Maybe he lost the first certificate or didn't have it.
The tragedy of this whole story is that their daughter Cora married in Mar 1909 and in May 1909 this same daughter drown in a boating accident. She had a short 2 months with her husband before she died.
Thank you everyone for helping me solve this mystery!
Angela
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Angela Schroat in the early 1800s divorce was a chancery court issue. I don't know if it still was by 1895-1900 or not.
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