Tika & Lost Marriage Records

Tika went with us last weekend to the park to mark the wedding of our grandson. It was a very low-key, low-cost affair but abounding in family love (which is all that counts). Evan and Whitney were married by his Uncle Timothy, with Aunt Jane as the photographer.

On the way home Tika and I got to wondering........... for this marriage there were no newspaper notices, stories or announcements, no photographs except what family took and the requisite paperwork was signed there in the park. Evan's mother took it upon herself to ramrod  and secure the official paperwork.

No wonder we sometimes cannot find any official mention of our ancestor's marriage! They got married in the little church or the backyard and between there and the county office the paperwork got lost when the parson forded a stream and his bag got soaked. Or nobody was in charge of the paperwork and it just got forgotten or lost and was never properly filed.

If this marriage had been 150 years ago, in a little church, backyard or park near the couple's home, where would you maybe find a record of the marriage? Perhaps in a church bulletin or history mention? Perhaps in the local little newspaper..... if somebody submitted the story? Perhaps in the family Bible..... which is where today? Perhaps in a letter to a family member who could not attend..... which is where today? Perhaps in the diaries of those attending........ where to find them today? Or perhaps in the journals of the bride and groom.... no doubt written long after the event? Or the "Grandmother, Tell Me Your Story?" books?

Tika's point here is this: you may never find that one piece of paper, that one official record, for the marriage of your ancestor. To "prove" that marriage you will have to collect bits and pieces and secondary evidence. 'Tiz the way of life, I guess, mused Tika.

Who was asleep on my lap by this point. Smart, tired little dogger.