Jenny,
I have a set of G-grandparents and all the family info said they were
married at Bunker Hill, Miami Co., IN. When I checked the WPA indexes they
were not there, so when I had the opportunity, I decided to take a look in
the actual book in the Clerk's office at the courthouse. The marriage was
not in the index either, so I decided to leaf through, since I did have a
date. There it was, with NO MINISTER'S RETURN! My mom says her
grandmother would roll over in her grave, because she was such a proper
lady! We just have to keep looking...
Debby
At 01:24 AM 4/19/1999 -0700, you wrote:
My grandmother was apparently married twice, and the first marriage I
have not been able to find a record of...I wonder if she and Mr.
Henderson went up to "St. Joe"??? Think that might be something to
check out....once I've exhausted all local possibilities. :)
Jenny
MmeDefarge wrote:
>
> How many people have "Mystery Marriages" in their family trees? That
> is, a husband and wife who were from Miami County, Indiana and lived in the
> Miami County, Indiana area, but the marriage remained a "Mystery"
because no
> record of it can be found in the Courthouse records?
>
> I have stumbled across something by accident. In reviewing some
> editions of "The Denver Tribune" in the early 1920's, there are quite a
few
> couples whose marriages are listed as "surprises" and each of them was
> married in "St. Joe", Michigan. "St. Joe", of course, is Saint
Joseph,
> Michigan, located in Berrian County of that state.
>
> Does anyone have any information about this??? Were the age
> requirements different in Michigan with, perhaps, parental consent not
> needed? Or was this simply a place you could easily get a marriage
license
> with no questions asked?
>
> I am really curious WHY so many people went there to get married!
>
> Nancy