Source Information

Ancestry.com. West Virginia, U.S., Marriages Index, 1785-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data:

"West Virginia Marriages, 1853–1970." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008, 2009. Digital images of originals housed in County Courthouses in various counties throughout West Virginia. Marriage records.

About West Virginia, U.S., Marriages Index, 1785-1971

This database contains an index extracted from West Virginia marriage records.

What’s in the Index

Beginning in 1853 Virginia law (which still applied to counties that would make up West Virginia) required counties to issue marriage licenses and record marriages in registers. Prior to this, Virginia law required that church marriages be recorded in registers, and starting in 1780, copies of these registers had to be forwarded to civil authorities. Details contained in this index were extracted from these county marriage records, which include bonds, applications, licenses, register entries, and returns.

While details listed vary depending on the form and what information was originally recorded, this index may include

  • name
  • date of marriage
  • place of marriage
  • birth date
  • birthplace
  • age
  • marital status
  • race/ethnicity
  • gender
  • father’s name
  • mother’s name
  • paternal grandparent
  • maternal grandparent
  • spouse’s name, birth date, birthplace, age, race/ethnicity, gender, marital status, previous spouse
  • spouse’s father
  • spouse’s mother
  • spouse’s paternal grandparents
  • spouse’s maternal grandparents
  • groom’s previous spouse
  • bride’s previous spouse
  • FHL film number

The FHL film number refers to a microfilm copy of the source held by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.