Marriages in Kosciusko County.........lots of
records.....
There have been many questions regarding marriage records -books,
indexes and card files in this county. This is an attempt to clarify
some of the confusion.
The OFFICIAL marriage books are in the county clerk's office in the
Justice Building across from the courthouse on the northwest corner. If
you do not know the DATE of the marriage, you can check the extensive 3 x
5 card file drawers (same area) that serve to this day as an
comprehensive index to the books. Each book is indexed internally as
well. More info about these official volumes follows:
Marriage Record 1 1836-1843
Has an alphabetical index in the front that has been prepared at a later
date. Interestingly, the FIRST marriage, James Browley and Jane Garrett
(July 15th 1836) shows additional information that there is "consent for
Jane being given through Robinson Garrett" for this marriage. (John
Nickle and Maria Mackey are shown as married on July 21st not July 2nd as
indicated in the preface to the marriages on this web page.) The first
few pages are stamped with an "A" and a number 1-38. Thus, if you see a
book and page given as Book 1, page A16, that is correct. After page A38
there is a blank page, and the pagination starts with the number 1 and
continues to page 234. There are two marriages per page. It appears that
at one time, this was considered Marriage Book 2.
Marriage Record 2 1843-1847
In this record book there is an alphabetical index at the front and there
is one marriage record per page. They are chronological by date.
Marriage Book 3 July 1847-March 1857
This book is licenses only. There are 2 per page. The book is indexed in
the front.
Marriage Book B 1857-1863 There are 2 licenses per page. The book is
indexed.
Marriage Record 5 1874-1905 .... I think these are part of the
application. It is indexed. This book is clearly different from the
rest.
Marriage Book C 1863-1867 There are 2 licenses per page. The book is
indexed.
Marriage Book D Dec 1867-Sept 1872
Marriage Book E Sept 1872-Apr 1878
Marriage Book F May 1878-May 1882 and continuing on with
books identified with the letters of the alphabet to Z; at that time
they started over with double letters AA, BB, CC etc... and in fact,
today are on books with four letters, i.e. GGGG.
In 1938 the Indiana Works Progress Administration (WPA) created Birth,
Death and Marriage indexes in this county. This index covers the years
1889-1920 and gives the names, person #1 and person 2, date of birth or
age, if given, the marriage date, and the book & page. Copies of theses
indexes are available at the public library and at the jail museum
library. There is also a copy of the WPA Marriage index in the clerk's
office.
Sometime... maybe in the 50's or 60's a lady by the name of Ruth
Slevin indexed in book form some of the marriages of this county. Her
book can be found in several locations and gives an alphabetical listing
of GROOMS whose last names begin with A-J. Information given includes
bride's name, date of marriage and book and page.
In 1968-69, Mrs. George (Marjorie) Nye was regent of Agnes Pruyn
Chapman Chapter of DAR in this county. She (and perhaps other unnamed
persons) created 3 indices of marriages. Mrs. Nye was responsible for
the typing of the books.
Marriage Records of Kosciusko County
Section 1 - Book 1 1830-1843
Section 2 - Books 2 & 3 1843 - Mar. 1857
Section 3 - Books B & C Apr. 1857-Nov. 1867
Each line of text includes official book & page reference, name #1,
spouse name, date of marriage and person performing the marriage. (One
would have to assume that Mrs. Nye used the actual record books for this
index. Using the card file index to compile these books would have been
very difficult.)
Than in the 1980's when the Historical Society was given the contents
of the courthouse attic (old official records), a set of marriage record
books appeared that had been kept by the Count
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y Health Officer. The
record's date start in Nov. 1881 and continue through 1947. They give
similar information as the official records - with one very important
difference. These records give parent's names at a much earlier date
than the official county records. Repeat.... these records give parent's
names at a much earlier date than the official county records.
Technically, however, you MUST make a note in your source information
that the parent's names come from records other than OFFICIAL marriage
data. There are approximately 30 years of marriages where parent's names
can be found at the Jail Museum library and not at the county clerk's
office.
Another difference, although not quite as significant is the fact that
the Health officer records give "age at next birthday" and the official
marriage records give birth DATE information. This information (age) was
not obtained in early records, but was requested in the records in the
1890's thru 1947.
In 1986, Mrs. Marjorie Nye again indexed marriage records for
publication in book form. This time, however, she indexed the health
officer records. Each alphabetical line of text represents a bride or
groom and gives the name of the applicant, the father's name, the
mother's name, the spouse name, and the date of marriage. She DID NOT
give a book and page reference because she realized that it would cause
confusion with the OFFICIAL records. Each health officer book is
identified by the years spanned and is indexed individually. These book
indexes were merely an attempt to make the information more accessible to
libraries and persons at a distance.
The publications are for sale by the Genealogy Section
Nye Marriage Applications Nov. 1881-Apr. 1892 (c1986)
Nye Marriage Applications Apr. 1892-1903 (c1987)
Nye Marriage Applications 1903-1912 (c1988) INCLUDES
Divorces granted by the Circuit Court
during those 10 years.
Nye Marriage Applications 1913-1922 (c1989) INCLUDES
Divorces granted by the Circuit Court
during those 10 years
Indexed by Scantlen
Keyboarded by Priser Marriage Applications 1923-1942
(c1997)
(I understand that the 1942-1947 Marriages have been indexed by Martha
Scantlen and will be published - date unknown)
In addition to the above publications, there was a listing of Early
Kosciusko County marriages in Willard Heiss's Indiana Source Book 1 -
pages 66-67. This covered marriages from 1836-1841. The listing was
alphabetical by groom and included marriage date.
..... There MAY be a listing of marriages for our county at the state
level, and if there is, it is incorporated into a STATE marriage index of
some sort. I am not familiar with it, however someone has indicated that
Dorothy Riker compiled marriage records for this county.
The marriages that are included on this web page are alphabetical and
cover the years 1836-1857. Both brides and grooms are alphabetically
arranged. The source is not given, however it would appear from the
inclusion dates that Sections 1 and 2 of Nye's books was used.
Although each person doing these indexes tried very hard to be perfect
and exact, there are errors and omissions. If there is a marriage that
you firmly believe happened in this county and you have not been able to
find in the published books, don't give up.... UNTIL you have check the
official record books at the Justice Building in Warsaw, IN.
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Get completely free e-mail from Juno at
http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]