District of Columbia, Marriages, 1811-1950

What is in This Collection?

This collection consists of marriage licenses and certificates, including a few marriage declarations and marriage stubs for the years 1811 to 1950.

The records are arranged by county, then by volume and year range. The form type varies between register style and certificate style. County clerks usually used the same printed form during the same time periods. Marriage records were generally well preserved, although fires, floods, or other disasters may have destroyed some records.

The earliest marriage bonds and licenses were usually handwritten on loose papers that were later bound into lettered volumes. Some marriage records had multiple entries on each page, while others had single records per page.

Registration of marriages began in 1811. Some of the early marriages for the years 1811 to 1858 have been transcribed by the DAR and are on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library(FS Catalog 235353 Film 845766). Easier-to-use versions of these records include:

• DC marriage records 1811-1950; indexes, 1811-1986 (FS Catalog 682872 Film 2079252)
• Alexandria (DC) marriage certificates returned 1801-1850(FS Catalog 1129363 Film 1902941 item 3)
• DC marriage registers 1811-1870 (FS Catalog 735000 Book 975.3 V28p) Early registers only contain the name of the bride and groom and the date of marriage
• DC marriage returns, 1874-1902, 1907-1923; consents, 1896-Dec. 1950 (FS Catalog 677313 Film 2070925) These records may provide the name of the bride and groom, and their age, residence, color, occupation, birthplace and number of marriages
• DC newspaper marriage notices 1800-1850 (FS Catalog 93106 Film 929472)

You can obtain marriage records from 1811 to the present by writing to:

Marriages more than 50 years old are considered public record and no approval is needed to apply for a record copy.

Civil marriage records were created to legalize marital relationships and to protect the interests of the wife and other heirs to legal claims on property.

The marriage date, place, residence of the bride and groom, and occupations are relatively reliable. Other information, such as age or birthplace, is dependent on the knowledge, memory, and accuracy of the informants, usually the bride and groom.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

• The name of the bride and groom
• The date and place of marriage
• The names of witnesses
• The name of officiator

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  1880 Marriage Record Example 1

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  1880 Marriage Record Example 2

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  1894 Marriage Record Example 3

Digital Folder Number List

This collection was published as a DGS browse collection. The list does not contain any description of the DGS folder's content. A table listing each DGS number and its contents can be found at District of Columbia, Marriages Digital Folder Number List.