March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.
The record had a decent amount of information. I was able to find out their occupations. My grandfather was a brass molder and my grandmother's occupation was listed as housework. The record has birth dates and places of birth for my grandparents. It also includes the names of my great grandparents and their places of birth and occupations. My great grandfather was a hatter. I found that occupation listed for several of my grandmother's family members.
This was a first marriage for both my grandparents. Considering that my grandmother was only 16, I guess that way a good thing. My grandfather was 22.
One of the most interesting things that I found on the marriage record was a note written at the bottom and signed by my great grandmother. The note read "I hereby give my consent to the marriage of my daughter" and was signed "Cora Manis". That was the first time I had seen the handwriting of my great grandmother. I assume she had to sign and give her consent since my grandmother was underage. Both of my grandparents signed the marriage record.
My grandmother died when my mother was fifteen, so I had never seen anything written by my grandmother before this either. It was fantastic to have the records and to be able to see the information.
I found a marriage record for my grandparents on FamilySearch.org. When I did my initial search there was no marriage record listed for them. I noticed that quite of few of the Indiana records had not been indexed yet, but all of the marriage records already had digital images. I started going through the digital images. I started with Wayne County first, because that is where most of my mother's family had lived. I found numerous marriage certificates there. I then remembered that my grandmother had lived in Wabash County, as well as, many of her family members. I started searching Wabash County digital images then.
Eureka! I found their marriage record and was able to download a copy of it. I was so elated to find the record, as I said, I had believed they had been married in Wayne County. I had previously made a trip to the Wayne County Courthouse to find the record, but had no luck. Now I know why I was unable to find it.
The record had a decent amount of information. I was able to find out their occupations. My grandfather was a brass molder and my grandmother's occupation was listed as housework. The record has birth dates and places of birth for my grandparents. It also includes the names of my great grandparents and their places of birth and occupations. My great grandfather was a hatter. I found that occupation listed for several of my grandmother's family members.
This was a first marriage for both my grandparents. Considering that my grandmother was only 16, I guess that way a good thing. My grandfather was 22.
One of the most interesting things that I found on the marriage record was a note written at the bottom and signed by my great grandmother. The note read "I hereby give my consent to the marriage of my daughter" and was signed "Cora Manis". That was the first time I had seen the handwriting of my great grandmother. I assume she had to sign and give her consent since my grandmother was underage. Both of my grandparents signed the marriage record.
My grandmother died when my mother was fifteen, so I had never seen anything written by my grandmother before this either. It was fantastic to have the records and to be able to see the information.
What a great find Betty! Congratulations! I'm curious, how long did it take you to scan the un-indexed records until you came across it?
ReplyDeleteThey are just like the books at the courthouse. In the front they have a sort of index. I just went through the indexes looking for names I recognized and then went to the page number listed for that record. I think I spent an evening on each area. I wasn't sure what years to go through for most of them so I just went through each book. It was really worth the time.
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