Marriage applications, licenses, and certificates (returns). The unlettered volume and much of Volume A includes only certificates. Beginning in July 1865 licenses are usually included with the certificates; beginning with Volume E (1891) applications, licenses, and certificates are included. When certificates only are present, records are filed by filing date of certificate (usually shortly after the marriage took place, but occasionally up to two months later); when the records consist of licenses and certificates, they are filed by date of license; when applications, licenses, and certificates are included, they are filed by date of application.

Marriage applications include names and counties of residence of bride and groom and date of application; marriage licenses repeat the above and include the date the license was granted. Certificates include the date and place of solemnization of the marriage, officiant (and, after about 1937, the officiant’s address), position of officiant (clergy, justice, etc.), and if a member of the clergy, the county in which the officiant’s ordination credentials are filed. Later volumes, especially from the twentieth century, may include consent forms of guardians for minors to marry.

The filmed version of the unlettered volume contains no index; the original has an incomplete index as noted below. Volumes A-G are indexed by groom only at the beginning of the volume. Volumes H-K have bride and groom indexes at the beginning of each volume. Volumes L-T have groom only indexes at the beginning of the volume and bride only indexes at the end of the volume.

Original marriage licenses and certificates (returns); generally include names of parties with their counties of residence, name of officiant, position of officiant (clergy, justice, etc.) and where ordination credentials are filed; date and place of marriage, signatures of witnesses to marriage and of officiant; filing date, citation to volume (book) and page where recorded.

Theoretically, all of these records are duplicated in the marriage record books. However, these certificates contain original signatures and on rare occasion will contain additional information not transcribed into the record volumes. Except for some major exceptions noted in the list, the records are arranged very roughly by year (but in apparently random order within the year).