White County Unclaimed Marriage Record Index
Instructions For The Use
Introduction: These files list the Original Marriage documents that were not picked up or a forwarding address was not available. The time span covers from the 1850’s through the early 1900’s. Some of the licenses are on the forms provided by the clerk’s office. However some of them are on pieces of paper furnished by the minister or J P that performed the ceremony. These non-standard licenses are marked in the index with a (N) in the sixth or FRM column. If nothing is given in the FRM column the record should be on a standard form with places for the required signatures. Some of the index abbreviations are as follows. In the Age column you will find N D for not defined. L A is used for Legal Age, COP for Consent of Parents. If a name is listed with (?) it means the name was difficult to interpret. In the Married By column the abbreviations following the names are as follows. Justice of the Peace is abbreviated as J P, Minister of the Gospel as M G. Some others used are C J for County Judge, C C for County Clerk and O D for Ordained Deacon. The records marked Returned, Not Executed in the Married By column are for information only. They apparently backed out. If you want you can still get a copy.
Legibility --Please note that some of these papers are as much as a hundred forty years old and vary widely as to legibility and quality of paper used to print the license on. Several members of the White County Historical society have been involved in this sorting project. We had to make decisions about how the name was spelled based on a number of facts. If you do not find the exact spelling that you think represents you ancestor try other spellings. Some files contain more than one variation of the spelling of names all on the same document.
Ordering copies. The original documents will be maintained by the White County Historical Society. It is planned to also have the records put on microfilm to preserve the records. You may order a copy printed on parchment paper for a $7 donation to the WCHS for each license you desire. If regular paper is OK send $5. Please use the following address.
If you have questions you can send a message to Marriage Records