Kentucky 1851-1900 Marriage Index

This data set contains alphabetical listings of approximately 317,000 individuals from Kentucky who were married between 1851 and 1900. These records were compiled by Liahona Research. From this data set you can obtain information about each listed individual, such as their name, their spouse's name, the date of their marriage, and the county where the marriage was recorded. You can also learn where to find copies of your ancestor's original marriage record so that you can learn even more detailed family history information.

Every effort has been made to retain all spellings as they appeared on the original text and to find all available records in existence. The purpose of this work is to serve as a research tool in order to provide a time and place within a state of an existing marriage event. It is up to the researcher to go to those records (usually on microfilm) and glean whatever genealogical information desired. It is important to view the actual marriage record because of the additional information that may sometimes be provided, such as parents' names, ages, dates of birth, residences, or previous marriages. These may not always be provided on the record, but in some counties and circumstances they are a standard.

The date of marriage is most often the date provided for each entry. However, when no marriage date was given, the date of the license was provided. In a few cases a marriage may be listed twice but in two different counties. A couple would obtain a marriage license in one county, but would be married in another county, most often near other relatives. The marriage would be listed in that county as a result of the ministers' returns to the county. We left those marriages listed as such in order to give clues to the researcher about the existence of family in other counties.

Liahona Research
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More About This Data Set

While some counties have marriage records for dates prior to organization, most records in Kentucky begin about the time of a county's establishment or within a few years of that date. Beginning in 1958, however, statewide registration of marriages was required. Original records are filed with each county clerk's office while duplicates can be found at the Office of Vital Statistics.

Marriage records come in many varieties, some more complete than others. One type of marriage record was a marriage bond which, until nearly the twentieth century, grooms were required to place themselves under prior to a wedding. Surety on these bonds was generally the bride's father although sometimes it was a brother, other relative, or a friend. The type of information available on these types of marriage records varies from county to county. Bonds of Kentucky's Caldwell County, for example, contain much more detailed information than just the names of the bride and groom and the dates of the bond and/or wedding.

The following is typical of the information you would find in a Caldwell County marriage bond:
The groom was Hiram H. Brelsford, a twenty-seven year old merchant of the town of Princeton in that county. The groom, his bride, and his mother were all natives of the county. His father was born in Christian County, Kentucky. Brelsford's bride was twenty-one year old Emma Owen. Both of Emma's parents were born in Kentucky. For both the bride and the groom, this was a first marriage and they were married at the home of E.N. Owen on May 24, 1864. The surety on the bond was W.H. Kevil.

A bond is just one type of marriage record. Others include marriage certificates, registers and returns, and licenses. Sources such as these are noted in the Source field in an individual's More About dialog box.

Before using this data set, you should be aware of the following:

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.

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 — This field lists the name of the individual's spouse. Please note that all records appear in the index twice, once under the husband's name and once under the wife's name.

Marriage Date — As noted in the previous section of this introduction, 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. However, as noted in the previous section of this introduction, some couples would obtain a marriage license in one county, but would be married in another county, most often near other relatives. When this was the case, you can sometimes find the marriage listed twice in the index, once for each county.

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, and where they lived at the time of their marriage.

Soundex Code — The Soundex code for each individual's surname appears on the status bar at the bottom of the screen.