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Marriage Records

1817-1915 Marriages

The lists displayed at the links below were extracted from the Illinois Archives website. If you are interested in an ancestor listed, please visit the Illinois State Archives website for more information and/or for instructions to obtain a copy of a marriage certificate.

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How I got an important Bond County Record
MORRIS-WARD
1830 Marriage License
MORRIS-WARD
1830 Marriage Certificate

I was a school administrator in Princeton, IL and the State of Illinois had an "Early Childhood Education" meeting in Collinsville, IL that I attended about 1993.

While at the meeting I called the Clerk in the Bond County Courthouse, Greenfield, to see how late they would be open on that day --a Friday if I recall correctly. I was told the time they closed and I determined I could leave Collinsville and make it there in time to look for a record.

The clerk asked me what record I would be looking for. I told her a marriage record. She asked for what date. I said 1830. She said, "Oh my, I am not sure our records go back that far."

I thought I was that close and that record was important to me so I decided to take a chance.

When I arrived at the Clerk's office I reminded her or her assistant what I was looking for. She repeated again that an 1830 record may be hard to find.

There was a row of 4 drawer metal filing cabinets and this person went to the first file cabinet on the left and opened the very top drawer. She reached just inside the drawer --in the very front of it --and pulled out a single sheet of paper...looked at it and said, "Oh my. Here it is. I think it is the oldest one we have." It was the hand written 1830 record of Isaac Newton Morris and Elizabeth Ward marriage license for Bond County, Illinois!

Many people have copied from my Ancestry.com account and this record is all over the place now --as if it was common knowledge and readily available for the asking. If only people knew......

Jim White

Templates in Time