Thursday, March 08, 2007

Obtaining Marriage Records Online

You don’t have to travel to the county that the bride and groom tied the knot, or search out directions to the courthouse. In fact, with enough information at hand, you won’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home because many counties actually offer the information online. There are also quite a few websites that can obtain the records for you. But a few key pieces of information might be necessary if you want to make sure that you get the right records. The county where the bride and groom were married is essential in most cases, in order to prevent incorrect results to your search. You would be surprised how many marriage records are similar to yours if you have a common name. There may be a few databases that can search for records in all counties and states, but most of the time you will need a county and state to find the correct records. If you don’t want to purchase over the internet, you can also locate the county records office online, and then send payment and order the records directly from the county. In this case, you will definitely need the names of both the groom and the bride, including the maiden name.

Public records are available right over the internet, but with so many similar names, it’s best to gather as much of the information necessary to distinguish the bride and groom from similarly named people. Jane (who’s maiden name is Smith) marries Bob Johnson and Susan is searching for Jane Johnson. To find the marriage records, Susan would need to know Jane’s maiden name is Smith. The name of the county is necessary in order to purchase the online records. However, if Susan performs a people search on Bob Johnson, a comprehensive report should show that he married Jane, and that her family members all share the common name Smith. Then Susan can order the marriage records with Jane Smith listed as the bride, and Bob Johnson listed as the groom.

The same method can be used when searching for a woman you have lost touch with over the years, because there is a strong possibility that her name has changed over the years. Women can sometimes be the hardest to track once they have been married, so if you only have the groom’s name, this could prove to be a very difficult search. In fact, you may actually need the bride’s maiden name to track down the correct bride and groom. This issue can become quite interesting if the bride has married more than once. In some cases, the woman may opt to keep her married name after a divorce, so knowing which last name she would use on her next marriage certificate can be tough as well. In other cases, the divorce records could mandate that the woman revert to her maiden name after the divorce has been finalized. When you come across a stumbling block, try a different route. If one way doesn’t work, try something else. Don’t frustrate yourself by trying the same thing, hoping for different results.


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