Source Information

Ancestry.com. New York City, Compiled Marriage Index, 1600s-1800s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Original data: Genealogical Research Library, comp. New York City, Marriages, 1600s-1800s. For specific source information see the publication information listed with each entry. Many of the source documents are available in the Genealogical Research Library collection. Many of the records may also be found on microfilm at the Family History Library.

About New York City, Compiled Marriage Index, 1600s-1800s

This database is an index to approximately 410,000 individuals who were married in or near New York City between 1622 and 1899. While over 90% of the marriages included in this database were recorded in New York City and its boroughs, some were recorded on Long Island or elsewhere in the state. In addition, approximately 300 of the records are from Connecticut or New Jersey. Information that may be found in this database for each individual includes their name, spouse's name, marriage date, location, and source information. Marriage records are great sources for genealogists because they document an individual in a particular place and time as well as provide details about that person's marriage.

It is important that you use the information found in this database to locate your ancestor in the original records that this index references. Usually more information is available in the records themselves than is found in an index. For example, marriage records sometimes provide the birth dates and places of the bride and groom, their parents' names, their addresses, and witnesses' names, in addition to the information listed in this index.

While marriage records can usually be found in county courthouses or town records, copies are often located in the state archives, libraries, or historical societies. The specific office in a county courthouse where marriage records may be kept varies from county clerk to probate clerk. Actual records are kept in a variety of forms, primarily as marriage bonds or marriage licenses. These records usually indicate where a bride and groom were wed and details of the ceremony.

This database has been produced in collaboration with the Genealogical Research Library under the supervision of Noel Elliot. For more information contact:

The Genealogical Research Library
100 Adelaide Street West
5th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5H 1S3
Canada

Phone: 1 (416) 360-3929
Fax: 1 (416) 360-4348
Internet: http://www.grl.com/