If you’ve located an entry in local marriage records that a license was issued for your ancestor, have you determined if the license was returned? The issuance of a license means only that a license was issued and that a couple was intending to get married.
Usually cancelled licenses are returned and “cancelled” is written somewhere on or near the entry in the record indicating the license was issued. But not always. Sometimes they are just not returned.
Sometimes licenses that are used are not returned by the officiant, even if the marriage took place.
———————
Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank—search for your ancestors.
2 Responses
I saw a marriage registry book where there with neither a date for the registration, nor a date of marriage. It had the names of both the potential bride and groom and the county, of course, but nothing else. Luckily for me, it was entirely the wrong century to be the person I was looking for. But odd, all the same.
I had a copy of the marriage certificate of my grandparents filled out by their priest in May 1907. I sent it to Pennsylvania VR & got a nice letter thanking me for registering their marriage in August 1981.