Campbell A. Davidson of Leavenworth County, Kansas, age 28
Mary M. Haas of Leavenworth County, Kansas, age 18

Married 2 March 1873

State of Indiana, Clark County, Sct:

To any Person Empowered to Solemnize the Rites of Marriages in said County, Greeting:

You are Hereby Authorized To  join together, in the honorable state of Marriage,

Samuel Weeks and Martha R. Smith

for which this shall be your sufficient warrant.

Given under my hand, as Clerk, and the Seal of the Circuit Court of said County, at the town of Charlestown, this 4th day of October 1876

Alez? James, Clerk

State of Indiana, Clark County, SS:

This is to satisfy that Samuel Weeks and Martha R. Smith were joined together as Husband and Wife, by virtue of a License issued by the Clerk of the Clark Circuit Court, this 4th day of October 1876, by me

R.L. Howe, VDM

I, William Stevens an ordained minister of the Gospel do hereby certify that I did on the 18th of January A.D. 1842 solemnize the rites of matrimony between John C. Davidson and Sophia Talbott both being of lawful age. Given under my hand this 14th day of February A.D. 1842.
William Stevens
Filed for record February 25th 1842
By William P. Matthews Do                        Eli Carter Clerk

I love the two following records, both from 1846 in Franklin County, Virginia.

The first document is kind of like a “permission slip”.    Nancy Glass gave permission for Samuel Lee to get a marriage license for their marriage.

There is also another message written below by Nancy’s brother-in-law, Jacob Machenheimer.  He was married to Nancy’s sister Patience.  Their father, John Glass, died in 1840 and now I know that Nancy was living with her sister at the time of her marriage and that her brother-in-law was responsible for her.  He also gave his permission for the marriage license and apologized that he couldn’t ride to town at the time.  {on a side note, I wonder why he couldn’t ride to town – was he injured or sick or just busy?}

Transcription:

The Clerk of Franklin Cty Court is authorized to grant marriage license to Mr Samuel Lee for his and my marriage given under my hand this 27 July 1846

test  Jacob G Machenheimer         Nancy Glass

And here is the second document, giving surety…

Transcription:
Know all men by these presents that we Samuel E. Lee and Samuel R. Kirks are held and finally bound unto the Commonwealth of Virginia in the just and full sum of One hundred and fifty dollars the … payment of which will and only to be made … Executors and … jointly and … and dated the 29 day of July 1846.
The condition of the above obligation is such that … the above bound Samuel E. Lee hath this day obtained from the clerk of Franklin County Court a License for his intermarriage with Nancy Glass of said County. Now if there shall be no lawful cause to obstruct said marriage then the above obligation to be paid else to remain in full free and …
Samuel E. Lee (his mark) [seal]
Samuel R. Kirks [seal]

{It’s late at night and I’m squinting as I try to transcribe this. I’m hoping that I can fill in some of the above blanks during the day. }

Lucky me, I got a present in the mail the other day.  A marriage record for Matilda’s second marriage, to Jasper Marion Miller.  It lists both of her parents!!!

Now I need to get all of my papers together and see if I can finally get this thing submitted!

It’s exciting to find each new generation though – often more exciting than filling in the blanks on some of the more recent ones.

As I have been filling out my DAR paperwork, I have realized that there are a lot of things that I “skipped” concerning my grandparents and great-grandparents.  The memories of my aunts and uncles are helpful, but they are not proof of my grandparents’ birth or marriage dates.

I have been busy remedying my early mistakes by ordering a slew of birth, death, and marriage certificates.

As I was reading the most recent issue of Family Tree Magazine, I was happy to have found the website of the Washington Digital Archives listed as one of the best state websites. I didn’t even know the website existed.

And I was even happier to have found a copy of my grandparents’ marriage certificate, scanned in, just waiting for me to find it.

Theirs wasn’t the only one either.  I was able to find the certificates for both of my grandmother’s sisters, too.

The birth and death records were also helpful, but there were not scanned images of them – for obvious reasons.

So, I have found yet another great resource to add to my genealogy “toolbox”.  My bookmark list is getting pretty long!!