Marriage Collection
Marriage Records
Jefferson, Lewis, and St Lawrence Counties of Northern New York
The Marriage Collection is predominately derived from marriage notices reported in newspapers and the records of ministers and churches. Unlike wedding announcements of today, historical announcements typically contained a minimal amount of information. Generally they contained the names and ages of the bride and groom, the minister, the date and general location of the ceremony, and the general home residence of the bride and groom (i.e. town, village, etc.). Rarely did they mention the parents of either the bride or groom. Even less frequently were other parties involved in the ceremony reported. Minister and church records roughly provided the same level of information as published in periodicals.
In some cases the records are not of individuals that lived in the Northern New York area; however, they clearly had sufficient ties to the area to warrant a published marriage notice. We are able, in the majority of cases, to provide the original source reference; however, rarely do we have a copy of the original source document. This collection is in the process of being restructured, so if the source reference doesn't display for a given marriage, please contact us through the Contact page.