Marriage records are an often overlooked component to searching for a person, either alive or dead. They’re especially important when researching genealogy or searching for a woman whose surname may have changed due to marriage.

Marriage records contain the full names of both bride and groom, date of their marriage, and the county which they were married. Some marriage records include even more information, like the details about the parents of both the bride and groom, records of previous marriages, and the addresses of the bride and groom. Marriage records are therefore a vital part of ancestral research, for both the access to full names and the provision of dates and places, which can help distinguish between people with similar or same names and confirm relationships.

You can find most marriage records via the Vital Records Office or the Department of Health in the region where the marriage took place. Old records may be available in a library. You may also use most of the pay-to-search online sites that comb public records and include marriage records in the search results to search remotely.