WEDDING WEDNESAY ~ Finding 2 marriage records when you were only looking for one–and some TIPS

In locating the image for the marriage of Hannah ARMSTRONG and David DALLAS/DALLA, I also found the marriage record for Martin WILSON and Mary “Polly” BOGGS.

TIP:  This is yet another reminder of why we MUST look at surrounding records, whether on a census sheet, a marriage record or a probate record.  I’ve definitely learned, over the years, that this method pays off.

Case in point.  I already had a marriage date for a couple I was looking at.  In fact, I had the index for that marriage, which took place 25 Jun 1815.  As we all know, just because an image wasn’t available when you last looked, doesn't mean it's not online now.

This was the case for Hannah Armstrong & David Dallas/Dalla.  I thought I’d check on Ancestry and Family Search to see if an image of the record was now available.

 

Here’s the index I had located a few years ago.

Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993
Name:    Anna Armstrong
Gender:    Female
Marriage Date:    25 Jun 1815
Marriage Place:    Gallia, Ohio, USA
Spouse:    David Dalla
Film Number:    000317652

And, here is the record I located when I checked again on Ancestry.

(YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

On the left hand page, indicated in red, you can see the Dalla/Armstrong marriage.  I could have just downloaded it, added it to Legacy and sourced it and moved on.  BUT, I read ALL the entries on those 2 pages.  Look at the right hand side, indicated in green.

Don’t you know…..there, on the opposite page, is an entry for a Polly BOGGS marrying Martin WILSON.  Mmmmm…Boggs happens to be one of my direct lines and they were located in Ohio, Virginia & West Virginia.

I looked in my Legacy tree, and there they were.  Same as the other couple, I had found the indexed record of the marriage, but not the image.

 

Ohio, Marriages, 1803-1900
Name:    Polly Boggs
Gender:    Female
Spouse: Martin Wilson
Spouse Gender:    Male
Marriage Date:    8 Jun 1815
County:    Gallia
State:    Ohio

Here are cropped images of both those marriage records.

David Dalla & Anna Armstrong married 25 Jun 1815

Martin Wilson & Polly Boggs married 8 Jun 1815

There are a couple of lessons here.  One I already mentioned, is reviewing all adjacent records.

The other, is to look closely and read what the record says.  You’ll notice that the date that jumps out at you on both of these records is August 1815, at the end of each entry.  BUT, that’s not the marriage date, it’s the date the record was given a seal or recorded.  How easy it would be to record the wrong date.

I’m very happy to have located these images.  I always seek to view, with my own eyes, any record.  I don’t want to rely on indexing or some other transcription if I don’t have to.  Sometimes, though, it is all we have.

I hope this information has been helpful.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

HELPFUL TIPS FOR USING LEGACY

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION