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Arizona, California, Idaho, and Nevada, 1850-1951 Marriage Index
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About the Data
This data
set contains references to more than 146,000 marriages that took place and/or
were recorded in selected Arizona, California, Idaho, and Nevada counties between
1850 and 1951. From these records, you can obtain some information about the listed
individuals and their marriages, such as marriage dates and locations.
You can also learn where to find the original records, which may contain more
information.
More About
this Data Set
Most of these marriages
were extracted from county courthouse records. However, in the case of Owyhee
County, Idaho, Volume 1 was reconstructed from local newspapers because the original
records are missing. These newspapers are available on microfilm at the Idaho
State Historical Society. In addition, some Nevada marriages came from the following
four churches:
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Nye County, Nevada
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Storey County, Nevada
St. John's Episcopal Church, Storey County, Nevada
Christ Episcopal Church, Lincoln County, Nevada.
You can find copies of many of the county marriage records in the county courthouses
where they were recorded, or in state or local archives. Marriages extracted from
the Episcopal Church records are available through the Nevada Historical Society,
1650 North Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89503, 702-688-1190. The Episcopal Diocese
of Nevada donated these records to the Nevada Historical Society. Many of the
Arizona records came from the Arizona Department of Library, Archives, and Public
Records, Archives Division, 1700 West Washington, Phoenix, AZ, 85007, 602-542-4159.
Virtually all of the records on this data set contain the following information:
both the bride's and groom's names, the marriage date, the marriage location,
the county and state in which the marriage was recorded, each spouse's gender,
the location of the original record, and the Soundex code for the surname under
which the record is indexed. Approximately twenty percent of the records also
show where the bride and groom lived at the time of the marriage. These records
are generally pre-1900. When you go to the original records, some post-1900 marriages
show where the bride and groom lived at the time of the marriage, but as a rule,
Ricks College did not extract this information. About one percent of the records
contain additional comments, such as the bride's and groom's ages at the time
of the marriage. Each of these items is described in more detail below.
While great effort has been taken to eliminate duplicate records from this data
set, some records are entered twice. This is because of differences in knowledge
of the recorder, variations in spelling of names, and the filing of marriage intentions
in more than one location. The information included on this data set is described
in more detail below.
Name — In some records, you will find three question marks in place
of the given name or surname. This indicates that the name was not listed on the
original record. You may also find question marks in place of missing letters.
A question mark after a name indicates that the name spelling was unclear. You
may also occasionally find the same record listed in the index under two different
name spellings. Please note that not all unusual and uncertain names were noted
by question marks, so always be sure to check under various spellings if you are
having trouble locating a name.
Spouse — The name of the individual's spouse.
Marriage date — This date is usually the marriage date. When no marriage
date was available in the records, the date of the license application or the
date that the license was issued was substituted.
County — This is the county in which the marriage was recorded. In
most cases, this is also the county in which the marriage took place.
Location of records — This tells you where you can find a copy of
the original record. The original record may provide you with more complete information,
such as the name of the couple's parents, the couple's ages, the name of the person
who performed the ceremony, and physical descriptions of the bride and groom.
Soundex code — The Soundex code for each individual's surname.
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