North Dakota, County Marriages, 1872-2000

What is in This Collection?

This collection consists of a name index & images to county marriage records acquired from local courthouses in North Dakota from 1872-1958. A small portion of the records are in poor condition with fragments of the original document remaining and some names partially visible. Images in this collection appear in some county records chronologically and alphabetically in others.

Early marriages (before 1886) in North Dakota were not required to be registered but some were filed with the city clerk where the marriage occurred or where the bride or groom resided. A copy of a marriage certificate was presented to the married party if they requested one.

A federal law in 1887 required officiators to file marriage certificates in the county probate court. A state law in 1890 changed the place of filing to the county courts, implemented use of an Application for Marriage License, and requirement for the Judge of the County Court to keep a marriage record book. In later years, marriage licenses were issued and registered in the county clerk offices and sometimes in the office of the county treasurer.

This collection will eventually include all counties in North Dakota and is being published as images and records become available. As of 14 August 2018 the collection includes records from the following counties:

County	Formed	Start	End
Adams	1907	1907	1925
Bottineau	1873	1887	1942
Bowman	1883	1907	1925
Burke	1910	1907	1929
Burleigh	1873	1873	1985
Cass	1873	1872	1944
Cavalier	1873	1887	1981
Dickey	1881	1886	1927
Eddy	1885	1889	1925
Grand Forks	1873	1875	1982
LaMoure	1873	1883	1925
McHenry	1873	1905	1924
McKenzie	1901	1908	1925
McLean	1883	1891	1928
Mountrail	1871	1909	1925
Nelson	1883	1883	1920
Pembina	1867	1872	1992
Ransom	1873	1882	1925
Richland	1873	1877	1925
Sargent	1883	1885	1925
Sioux	1815	1916	1925
Steele	1883	1887	1959

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:

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  Marriage License, Cass County, 1908

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  Application for Marriage License, Cass County, 1894

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 North Dakota, County Marriages Digital Folder Number List.