Posts in November 2, 2015

A recent conversation on my blog, reminded me of the importance of knowing exactly what a record says—and what it does not say. The marriage license of John Trautvetter and Francis Haase indicated they were married in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1868 by the local Lutheran minister. All the record really tells me is that the couple was married in the county in a religious ceremony. The marriage could have took place at the parsonage, at his parents’ home, at her parents’ home, or elsewhere. The returned license does not indicate. Both sets of parents and the church which the minister was affiliated were in the same township–so that’s probably where they got married. But the returned license does not say that.