I know from oral family history that John L. Siems married twice, with his first wife being my ancestor. He later married a woman with three children and had his second child, my grandfather’s younger sister.
As with death records, if you don’t know where to start you may want to begin with a search such as “marriage records <city, state, or country>”. Different regions will have different availability of records.
Luckily for me, marriage record entries (if not certificates) are available for Michigan for the dates I need. From a search of the Ancestry database “Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952” I find my great grandfather’s second marriage certificate. In it, I find his mother’s maiden name Popp, that he was previously married once, and he married Maude Schmeider nee Smith and they married in Saginaw.
I don’t have a certificate for his first marriage, but the database does contain his marriage record entry with the county clerk. Again, this record has his mother’s maiden name as well as his birthplace (Bridgeport) and his wife’s name and her parents, getting me back another generation on my grandfather’s mother’s side.
Another critical piece of information that can be found in marriage records are the names of the witnesses. Sometimes these were unrelated friends, or even the minister’s family. Other times, they are siblings or cousins that can give you critical information on family links.
If you can’t find a marriage record, some sources of information include newspaper announcements and obituaries, which may state when or how long the deceased was married. Another source is census records, which may give an estimated date of marriage or, if not a column in the census, the marriage can be estimated based on when the first child was born. This is also useful to narrow down a date range when searching for the marriage records entry.
I can now add to John:
John L. Siems
b. 24 May 1895 in Bridgeport, Michigan, USA
m. 2 Sep 1922 in Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA to Gretta Tomlinson
m. 16 Aug 1930 in Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA to Maude Smith
d. 7 Aug 1979 in Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA
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