Completed: 1985 Marriage Certificates

PLEASE NOTE THAT CERTIFICATE NUMBERS ARE OFTEN VERY FAINT, BUT THEY ARE THERE. Marriage certificates are among the most requested records here at the Maryland State Archives. These records are needed to apply for a driver’s license, passport, Social Security and health benefits, a mortgage, and for other important life events. Women especially need these documents to prove name changes over the course of a life that might include divorce, death of a spouse, or remarriage. Marriage certificates are also very valuable to genealogical research. Maryland certificates are organized first by year and month, then by one of 24 counties or jurisdictions, and then by certificate number. Indexes are vital in the retrieval of marriage certificates, yet some record years were transferred to the Archives without any indexing whatsoever. The original 1985 bride and groom indexes are both incomplete, and the search for a particular certificate may take some time as the person requesting it may not recall the year, month, or country in which the marriage took place, and almost never knows the certificate number. This project will make these 1985 marriage certificates far easier to retrieve, allowing the Archives to quickly get much-needed records to our patrons.