Updated text 31 October 2012
Prior update 06 December 2010
Original records of marriages in Lincoln County, Missouri
from the earliest
times (1819) to present
reside at the County Court House in Troy
in the office of the Recorder of Deeds.
Be advised that the early records only contain the marriage date and
names of the bride and groom and of the officiant;
there is no information about parents or other relatives.
Marriages in Lincoln County, Missouri are available
to researchers in various collections of indexes and lists.
Traditional sources are various printed and other hardcopy
publications and printings
as well as other possible commercial online sources that require a paid
subscription.
However,
indexes of
marriages in Lincoln County are available FREE online
to researchers in four collections.
The traditional sources have roughly corresponding,
but possibly less accurate, data.
The first two free collections are databases on this website;
the third and fourth are available through external links.
Lincoln County, Missouri Marriages 1818 to 1945
is derived from the transcription prepared by
Alvin E. Dunard in 2001 and contains about 16,000 marriage
records for that period.
Emily Wilson has extracted about 7,600 marriages from multiple
sources as of March, 2008.
Lincoln County USGenWeb site online postings, including Book 1
marriages 1825-1842.
The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is based on extractions of
original marriage records by the LDS (Mormon) Church
for the period 1825-1881.
Each free online collection is described in the following sections.
Printed and other hardcopy resources are listed at:
Lincoln County USGenWeb site Bibliography,
"Marriage Records" section.
Note that microfilm copies of the actual marriage records are
available for loan from the
LDS Family History Library (FHL)
and the preceding
Lincoln County USGenWeb site
lists the years covered and respective film numbers.
This includes index 1860-1907, marriage records 1825-1918 and
marriage licenses 1882-1931.
See also notes at end about fee-based services.
Handwriting of the original records was often very difficult to decipher
and transcription or typo errors can, and do, occur.
In my brief reviews, I have found a few.
Consequently,
the best approach is to check all applicable databases.
Lincoln County, Missouri Marriages 1818 to 1945
(Alvin E. Dunard Transcription)
Database Content
The
Lincoln County, Missouri Marriages 1818-1945
is a searchable database of about 16,000
marriages recorded at
Lincoln County, Missouri during that period.
The database is derived from
a computer print-out of a transcription of Lincoln County marriages
compiled during the year 2001
by Alvin E. Dunard.
This print-out exists in the form of a pile of loose pages in a corner
of the local history room at the Palmer Library in Elsberry, Missouri.
There were separate listings by
groom surname and bride surname, each consisting of 288 unnumbered pages.
The banner
page described the listing as
"LINCOLN COUNTY MARRIAGES FOR YEARS 1818-1945"
though the first marriage listed was July 21, 1819.
(See below.)
The print-out was unbound and showed no signs of even being
cataloged by the library.
There was no description of the methodology and source(s) used
to compile the data.
But since Mr. Dunard lived in Troy and
the records include the Book and Page number, it is
presumed that they were
transcribed onsite directly from the original marriage books at the
Lincoln County Courthouse in Troy.
Based on this apparent origin, my actual use of this database,
my informal comparison to the other databases and my
random comparison to various known marriages from other sources,
at this point the presumption
should be that the Dunard database is the most comprehensive and
accurate single published
database of marriages in Lincoln County for the years 1825-1945.
I have found
various discrepancies in names and dates due to
probable typo errors or misinterpretation of
difficult to read handwriting.
However, those discrepancies are generally not significant enough
to prevent locating the desired
records through reasonable search parameters.
But do not assume that either the spelling of names or dates are
precisely correct.
I ran scanner images
of the pages onsite and later OCR'd them
into text files. The OCR did a very accurate job
of translating the printed characters into computer text
(99%+ accuracy), but
column alignment was a problem and took some
manual effort to correct.
I have skimmed through the results and corrected the few OCR errors found,
but did not do a field-by-field proof-read. I am confident in the results,
but a few OCR errors or anomolies may remain.
Alvin E. Dunard was born 30 September 1933 and died 18 February
2005, last residence in Troy, Lincoln County, Missouri (SSDI).
I looked for an obituary for him but could not find one.
According to the 1940 census in Bedford Township (outside Troy,
Sheet 5A),
he was born in Missouri (presumed rural Bedford Township),
son of Joseph N. and Daisy V. (Deffendall) Dunard
and brother of Mary Louise, Charles, Florence and Barbara Dunard.
Possibly younger siblings born after 1940.
Joseph Nicholas Dunard was born 3 October 1886 in Lincoln Co.,
Missouri son of Charles Dunard and Naomi (Neoma) Cox
(married 10 January 1886 at Lincoln County);
died about 15 July 1956
near Silex and was buried at Troy City Cemetery.
It appears Joseph
was married first 24 Sep 1913 at Lincoln County to a Bette E. Weber.
Daisy Victoria Deffendall was born 24 March 1909; died 7 January 1998
presumably at Springfield, Greene County, Missouri (last SSDI residence);
presumably buried at
Troy City Cemetery in front of
Joseph (marker present which may be a cremation interment or a cenotaph).
Searching the Database
The Marriage database is searchable by groom surname, groom given name,
bride surname or bride given name.
You can enter the full name or just beginning letters of the name.
So, if you enter "ad" in the surname box (without the quotes, of course),
all surnames beginning with those letters will be listed:
Adams, Adkins, Admire, etc.
Any combination of groom surname, groom given name,
bride surname or bride given name can be entered and the results
will be limited to just that combination (a Boolean "And" search).
The search is not case-sensitive. Data is stored and
results are displayed in all
capitals, as was the original print-out.
Search results are displayed in the same browser window as the
Search Panel. If you search again, use the browser's
Back Button to Search Panel.
The sequence of the list is the groom's surname regardless of
which search criteria are entered.
The first column represents the Book and Page number of the original
marriage record. This was blank for a few records in the print-out and
I substituted "..-..." for the blank.
In the transcription, there were occasional numbers added to the
groom's surname or given name. They look like additional reference
numbers, but there was no further description of or
discussion about them.
I relocated them under a "Comments" heading.
The search results page layout will appear slightly different depending
on the browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.).
At the end of each record line is a "Details" link.
Clicking on this link will cause the same data for just that record to
be displayed in a new separate window, in a different layout.
The "Page" number that this displays is the imputed page number of the
original unpaginated Dunard transcription print-out.
This link is only present because it is automatically generated
by the canned software I used to produce the search page.
I would not have otherwise included it.
Behavior of this link is unpredictable and depends on the
browser/version and possibly computer's operating system.
Further, pop-up blockers will block this "Details" page and must be set
to allow display from this website (lincolnmo.awardspace.com).
For some unknown reason, when using Firefox browser, clicking on
the "details" link generates some kind of page with a listing of
errors. Just close out that page.
Warnings
The original transcription print-out appears to have at least some
errors.
This includes errors in names and dates
which were likely
caused by difficulty in deciphering handwriting or
just typos.
This observation
is based on a sample of specific records I looked at and
was able to compare to other known sources.
So, do not presume the data in this database is 100% correct.
I did not change the transcription data
even where I saw apparent errors.
Remember also that
the OCR translation may also have induced
a few additional errors of its own that I did not catch
despite proofreading.
As is usual with old records, spelling of names varies.
Most people in the early days could not read, write or spell their names,
the clerk wrote them down as he or she heard them pronounced,
which pronounciations did vary.
Further, some
handwriting can be extremely difficult to decipher.
So be creative in spelling when searching and take full advantage of
the automatic wildcarding on the search.
Given names of a number of individuals were recorded with initials only.
There were some duplicate records in the listing; I don't know the cause or reason.
I left them in.
Some given names ended with hyphen. I could see no purpose,
apparent reason or logic.
In particular, the given name "August" had a lot of them, i.e. "August-".
I removed the hyphens.
The print-out of the middle initial "I" looked a little odd though
usually clear. So if there is a conflict between this
marriage record transcription and another source over a middle
initial "I", this transcription may be in error.
A few data elements or characters
were obscured in the scan, possibly from a printer burp;
these are designated with question marks.
The Book/Page numbers do not precisely parallel the marriage dates.
It appears occasionally that marriages were recorded out of strict
date sequence.
I presume this is because they were recorded as received and
the minister did not get
around to submitting them right away.
From just a very quick, cursory check,
I see some discrepancies between this transcription and the
International Genealogical Index (IGI) which has
indexed Lincoln County marriages between 1825 and 1881.
I suggest also cross-checking your marriage records in the IGI
(see description later).
Some marriages that took place in Lincoln County may not be found in
this database.
In the early days, some marriages were performed by the circuit rider
preachers
who travelled from place to place on horseback.
They performed the marriage and may, or may not, have
dropped off his marriage records at the county recorder or to
a different county.
People in those days
simply waited to get married when the preacher came to town.
One such circuit rider was Rev. Wesley Browning,
a Methodist Episcopal preacher,
who
apparently performed marriages in the area mid 1860's
but dropped
off his records for recording in St. Louis.
(Included in IGI batch M515697.)
Other reasons:
the preacher simply forgot to submit the return,
the return was lost
or the marriage may have been performed and/or recorded
in a neighboring county.
Other comments
The early Lincoln County marriage records did not name parents,
relatives or other individuals (i.e. bondsman).
I do not know about the requirements and procedures for marrying, whether or
not a license, etc. was required.
I do not have access to original documents so am not able to
do verification or correction.
The original marriage books have, however, been microfilmed
and are cataloged in the FamilySearch website
according to the IGI "Source Call No."
Any problems, errors, questions, etc. let me know.
I will check the transcription page image to see if the OCR was in error,
but will not change Mr. Dunard's original transcription data.
I am, however, starting an errata page for any errors.
Also, if you're
certain a record should be there but isn't, also let me know
and I will add it to the error page.
Reportedly the search engine does NOT work with Google's Chrome browser
as of June 2012.
It does work with Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer.
Anomolies
Book 08 shows date groups out of sequence.
08-182 through 08-484 show marriages 1903 through Nov 1906.
However, 08-181 ends at 01-07-1900 and 09-001 begins at 01/24/1900,
so 1903 through Nov 1906 is put between the two.
There may have been some kind of problem with recording 1903-1906 marriages?
Various marriages from 17-264 through 17-278 for July, August and September
are dated 1938 but surrounded before and after by those from 1940.
It looks like the year should have been 1940,
but they may also have been a group that
was delayed for some reason,
as later on additional
marriages for those months are dated 1940.
Corrections
Generally, I am very hesitant to change the original data from the
transcription print-out, especially since I do not have access to
the original, underlying marriage records to check.
I would not change clerk's recording.
I have seen apparent errors and others have been communicated to me.
Some errors appear to be due to clerks of original records and spelling variations in
original records.
However, others
likely due to error in deciphering difficult-to-read
handwriting and simple typo's.
I have decided to handle apparent errors as follows:
OCR errors which are confirmed by the original print-out:
Change database without further comment.
Marriage year:
The last digit of certain
years was very likely incorrect
because it was not consistent with the surrounding years relative to
its Book/Page number neighbors.
Most likely a typo.
There was some judgement involved in looking at the entire date
relative to its neighbors.
Where it was reasonably
clear what the correct year should be
and was very likely recorded that way in the original record,
I changed it and entered 'cor-yr' in the comments field.
Minor spelling of names:
Where there was a spelling difference versus known correct name
and in my judgement there was compelling evidence or logic that
the error on the transcription
was likely a typo or problem deciphering handwriting,
I changed the record.
The change must be consistent with known correct spelling of the name.
I entered one of the following in the comments field depending
on the field that changed:
Groom - surname: cor-gs
Groom - given name: cor-gg
Bride - surname: cor-bs
Bride - given name: cor-bg
All others discrepancies, potential errors, including spelling variations:
Pending.
Original Print-Out Characteristics
288 pages total, not numbered
144 leaves
286 data pages
1 - Cover, preface
2 - Start of data
288 - Last page (blank)
56 lines per page, exceptions:
53 first
40 last
15,997 total original records, a few are apparent duplicates.
Some Early Marriages
The earliest marriages in Lincoln County took place between 1819
and 1825 and are listed in
the transcription with a
Book code of "BC".
These specific marriages were apparently copied from a transcription
of marriages written in the 1990's from those
recorded in the Lincoln County Recorder of Deeds, Book C.
That explains the "BC" book code.
The adjoining number is the page.
Apparently in the early days, marriages were recorded in the
same book as all other county business such as real estate transfers.
In 1825, somebody (thankfully) made the decision to record marriages
in a separate ledger book.
Thus began the first marriage book starting with Book code "01".
Unlike the marriages beginning with Book code "01", those
with code "BC" are not
listed in the International Genealogical Index (IGI).
That is likely because they were mixed in with other transactions,
they were not noticed by the initial transcribers
and the list is a third-party transcription from the 1990's.
I have been advised by the original transcriber in October 2012,
that one
early marriage may have been missed in the transcription.
The sequence shown is that of the marriage date.
In some cases, the sequence of dates does not precisely
parallel with the page numbers.
In these early days,
marriages were often recorded long after they took place.
Travel was difficult, knowledge of legal requirements haphazard
and other priorities, like survival, took precedence.
The "BC" code marriages from the Dunard transcription are:
BC-012 WRIGHT MORGAN 07-21-1819 DUNCAN FRANCES
BC-346 MURDOCK JAMES 09-05-1819 LYNN ANN
BC-073 CALLAWAY JAMES 01-18-1820 LEWIS URSULA
BC-181 THOMAS DAVID C. 08-16-1821 ALLEN MATILDA
BC-188 HAYES HENRY 10-28-1821 COTTLE SOPHRONIA
BC-343 GIBSON JOSEPH 01-15-1824 COPHER MATILDA
BC-360 BEAN JAMES 07-27-1824 LEWIS ELIZABETH
BC-343 PRESSLEY GEORGE 09-23-1824 CALLAWAY HANNAH
BC-349 SITTON JOSHUA M. 02-22-1825 BELL ELIZABETH
BC-360 HOWDESHELL HIRAM 03-31-1825 BERRY PALIA M.
BC-373 GALE JAMES 09-15-1825 GALLOWAY MARY
Book "01" marriages date from 1825 to September 1841;
Book "02" begins November 1841.
The first fifteen Book "01" marriages, which include all those
from 1825 are:
01-001 ENGLISH JOHN 08-03-1825 DAVIS KATHERINE
01-001 WOMMACK RICHARD 08-18-1825 SMILEY CINTHY
01-001 CANNON EPHRIAM [1825*] 11-20-1825 HUNTER DOROTHY
01-002 KERR WILLIAM [1826*] 01-19-1825 DRAPER PATSEY
01-002 JAMESON JOHN 11-12-1825 GILLILAND POLLY
01-002 GILILLAND JOHN 12-25-1825 PRESLEY ELIZABETH
01-002 OAKLEY HARRY [1825*] 12-25-1826 WILLSON SUSANNA MRS.
01-003 SIMPSON THOMAS [1826*] 03-18-1825 GALLOWAY BETSEY
01-003 EVANS ABRAHAM [1825*] 10-13-1825 SHRUM LENNEY
01-003 COX JOHN B. 01-22-1826 WILLSON BATHSHEBA
01-004 SITTON SAMUEL G. 02-23-1826 PORTERRE BECKY
01-004 ALLEN EDWIN 05-06-1826 WADE JANE
01-004 HUBBARD ELI 07-23-1826 CANNON KESIAH
01-004 SAPP SAMUEL 07-27-1826 SAPP MILLINDA
* Year as shown in IGI.
Marriage Season
Marriage is a key area of study for anthropologists and
one interesting aspect is when people get married.
In current times, June is the desired marriage month, but that
apparently wasn't so in times past.
Other priorities took precedence in an agrarian society which
included planting the crops in the spring and harvesting in the fall.
Consequently, at least in Lincoln County, late fall was the
popular time to get married, after the harvest which hopefully
was successful.
Breakdown of marriages by month, from the Dunard data:
1818-1945
16,000
January 7.69%
February 8.31
March 7.72
April 7.55
May 6.61
June 7.07
July 5.90
August 7.92
September 9.47
October 10.54
November 10.25
December 10.97
1818-1860 1861-1902 1903-1945
# of marriages: 2064 5517 8396
January 9.88 8.70 6.49
February 10.56 8.66 7.49
March 9.16 8.45 6.90
April 7.46 7.23 7.75
May 6.64 5.40 7.37
June 5.28 5.13 8.84
July 5.57 4.19 7.11
August 6.69 5.71 9.68
September 7.61 9.73 9.74
October 9.06 12.33 9.72
November 10.22 11.29 9.60
December 11.87 13.18 9.31
Search:
Lincoln County, Missouri Marriages - Wilson Database
Database Content
This database was submitted 09 March 2008 by Emily Wilson.
It contains 7,600 marriages for Lincoln County, Missouri
extracted from the following sources:
FTM CD 227 Marriage Index Selected States, 1728-1850, AR, CA, IO, LA, MN, MO, OR, TX
Family Archive CD 234, Marriage Index, Missouri, 1851-1900, Liahona Research
IGI batch M515341, 1825-1879, Source Call No.: 0973688 V. 1-3
IGI batch M515342, 1825-1885, Source Call No.: 0973689 V. 4-5
IGI batch M515343, 1865-1881, Source Call No.: 0973692 It. 3
The original file was supplied in GEDCOM format which I
converted to a database for search and display.
Searching the Database
Searching this database is similar to the Dunard database.
The Marriage database is searchable by groom surname, groom given name,
bride surname or bride given name.
You can enter the full name or just beginning letters of the name.
So, if you enter "ad" in the surname box (without the quotes, of course),
all surnames beginning with those letters will be listed:
Adams, Adkins, Admire, etc.
Any combination of groom surname, groom given name,
bride surname or bride given name can be entered and the results
will be limited to just that combination (a Boolean "And" search).
The search is not case-sensitive. Data is stored and
results are displayed in upper/lower case,
is the original database.
Search results are displayed in the same browser window as the
Search Panel. If you search again, use the browser's
Back Button to Search Panel.
The sequence of the list is the groom's surname regardless of
which search criteria are entered.
The search results page layout will appear slightly different depending
on the browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.).
Search
Lincoln County USGenWeb Online Marriages
The Lincoln County USGenWeb site online postings include
"County Recorder's Marriage Records," Vol. 1, 1825-1842
(Missouri State Archives Microfilm #C 3902);
transcriptions of marriage licenses published in the
Troy Free Press for eleven selected years 1884-1923
and miscellaneous submissions.
See
Lincoln County "Marriage & Divorce Records"
International Genealogical Index (IGI)
The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is based on extractions of
original marriage records of Lincoln County
by the LDS (Mormon) Church
for the period 1825-1881.
The records were (presumably) originally microfilmed at the County
Courthouse in Troy and later indexed into their computer database.
The microfilms are available to the public and the index can
be searched online at their
FamilySearch
website.
Records in the IGI are organized in "Batches."
Although it is possible to search the IGI on just name(s),
knowing the Batch Number allows one to focus the search,
in this case to Lincoln County.
Further, just entering the batch number will display
all entries on that batch;
entering just the surname is also allowed.
Be forewarned
that in searching it is always necessary
to select the "Region", which in this case is North America.
IGI batches for Lincoln County are:
index: M515341
Dates: 1825-1879, Source Call No.: 0973688 V. 1-3
index: M515342
Dates: 1879-1885, Source Call No.: 0973689 V. 4-5
index: M515343
Dates: 1865-1881, Source Call No.: 0973692 It 3
In addition to these specific batches derived from the original
handwritten records, the IGI also includes patron-submissions.
Those submissions are in other batches.
Those submissions usually do not cite sources, so must be used
with caution.
However, they
may, or may not, supply additional information
and/or alternate (sometimes correct) spellings.
However, during 2012, separate access to the IGI as a separate database
via the Family Search website was
reportedly discontinued.
The data has been incorporated into the Family Search global search facility
which acts as a kitchen sink search.
One problem with the IGI is that it had become saturated with uncited
patron submissions which too many researchers relied upon as proven fact,
in addition to the extractions from primary source records.
The batch numbers will continue to be displayed in the detail search results page,
but it does not appear to be possible to search on batch number through the
global search.
But as of October 2012, the following link still works to bring
up a panel to search just the IGI.
Note the radio buttons to select either:
"Community Indexed IGI" - which will be primary source extractions
OR
"Community Contributed IGI" - which could be just about anything.
Hopefully this hidden gem
will remain.
Fee-based services
Marriage records are also available online in various databases
for a fee at Ancestry.com.
As of 2008 the charge is $155 per year minimum,
but access to Ancestry.com is available for free at
many public libraries through a library subscription.
One such database is
Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002.
The advantage of access to this database is that it provides
links to images of the underlying marriage books.
However, as of November, 2008,
the actual
date span coverage for Lincoln County
is nowhere near 2002.
They may add records in the future.
There are two sections: the "Index" and the "Records."
The Index is the actual index from the Lincoln County courthouse
and includes years 1825 to 1931.
The "Record" is indexed links to images of the actual marriage
records existing in the courthouse, but only covers the
years 1825 to 1918.
Be advised that the early records in Lincoln County
only include the names of the
bride and groom, the date and (I think) the name of the officiant.
They do not include names of parents or bondsman, etc.
Corresponding indexes and images are available for Pike County:
Index images from 1825 to 1960 with substantial gaps inbetween and
Record images from 1825 to 1916.
"Index images for Lincoln" 1825 to 1931
(County "Register of Marriages" - goes from 1882 to 1931, film C3906;
"Index to Marriages" spans 1860-1887, 1886-1897 and 1893-1907.
Not sure how they came up with 1825 to 1931.
)
but 1) coverage dates for specifically Lincoln County are unstated and
2) they do not seem to have anything additional to offer for Lincoln County research
with the possible exception finding a hit from different spellings.
Keyword search of all database titles, bottom of page:
Ancestry database list search