County Marriage Records

PROGRAM: Know Your Records Program – Introduction to Genealogy (3 of 5 videos) LECTURE TITLE: Military Research at the National Archives: Pension Records by John Deeben LECTURE DESCRIPTION: John Deeben, archives specialist, discusses how pension records from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War can be used for genealogical research. This video shows examples of both a Revolutionary War pension and a Civil War pension. Revolutionary War pension files are available on microfilm and digitally via Fold3.com. Most Civil War pension files are available in textual form or through the Veteran’s Administration and some are available digitally on Fold3.com. LECTURER’S BIOGRAPHY: John Deeben is an Archives Specialist in the Research Support Branch, Customer Services Division at the National Archives Building, in Washington, DC He specializes in Federal records relating to military service, with particular emphasis on the Civil War era. He is a regular contributor on genealogy topics to the National Archives blog NARAtions, and frequently writes about federal records in various state and national genealogy publications. John holds BA and MA degrees in History from Gettysburg College and the Pennsylvania State University. LEARN MORE: Know Your Records program at www.archives.gov/dc-metro/know-your-records or e-mail inquire@nara.gov.

The Internet offers lots of opportunities to find out new things about basically any subject you can think of; there are no exceptions regarding marriage/wedding information. There are some websites on the Internet where you can find complete information about a certain wedding that took place in the past so if you are curious about when a friend of yours got married you can easily find out about it using these websites.

As you all know, bad things can happen; an example would be losing the marriage files due to disasters in record offices, fire or other calamities. In such situations, there are slim to null chances of locating the information again, this is where these website come in and take their part. There aren’t any other ways of acquiring this information again and taking in consideration that this method is rather easy and cheap, we now understand why these websites are becoming more and more popular.

These websites have an immense database of marriage records taken from state and local government agencies so you can trust the information they offer you as they transfer it from the authorities. They offer you all there is to know about a certain marriage, here is what you can find out about:

• Marriage records on anyone you can think of;

• Complete marriage history with full details;

• Marriage records dating back from the beginning of the 19th ;

• Date and place of the marriage;

• Time of the marriage;

• Country and state of filing;

• Filing number;

• Full names of bride and groom;

• Bride and groom dates of birth;

• Bride and groom ages;

• Complete family history;

• Current and previous addresses;

• Property records;

• Phone and cell numbers.

If this information isn’t enough, you can also find out if a certain couple divorced as these websites offer complete information about divorces which have become a problem in the United States, a recent study showed that more than 50% of marriages end up in a divorce. Basically, you can find out all there is to know about a marriage and/or a divorce.

Using these websites it is quite easy, you just have to enter the first and last name and you will find out all you need to know. For more accurate results, it is advisable to enter the approximate age, city and state so that the list of the results will be shorter and it will take you less time to browse it in order to find out what you are looking for. These kinds of services aren’t available only for United States as these websites can offer information about couples located in other areas of the world.

Respectable websites have a phone number posted where you can ask further questions regarding a certain marriage issue. An important thing you must know is that it is illegal to duplicate, distribute or copy the information these websites offer you so keep in mind that the information offered shouldn’t be used in illegal actions as the punishments are sever.

All in all, there aren’t other easy and affordable ways of finding out information regarding a certain marriage or divorce; these kind of websites can help you find out all there is to know and more about the history of a marriage that luckily didn’t end up in an unfortunate divorce, but if it did had a rather unhappy end, you can find out about the divorce too.

Why does the government get to decide when the “trigger” has been met, allowing it to do something terrible to us? Either the government is better at providing goods and services or the free market is — and I believe the historical record is clear on that. Why do liberals get to avoid having that argument simply by invoking “triggers”?

Why not have a “trigger” allowing people to buy medical insurance on the free market when a trigger is met, such as consumers deciding their health insurance is too expensive? Or how about a trigger allowing us to buy health insurance from Utah-based insurers — but only when triggered by our own states requiring all insurance companies to cover marriage counseling, drug rehab and shrinks?

Thinking more broadly, how about triggers for paying taxes? Under my “public option” plan, citizens would not have to pay taxes until a trigger kicks in. For example, 95 percent of the Department of Education’s output is useful, or — in the spirit of compromise — at least not actively pernicious.

Also, I think we need triggers for taking over our neighbors’ houses. If they don’t keep up 95 percent of their lawn — on the basis of our lawn commission’s calculations — we get to move in. As with Obama’s public option trigger, we (in the role of “government”) pay nothing. All expenses with the house would continue to be paid by the neighbor (playing “taxpayer”).

To make our housing “public option” even more analogous to Obama’s health care “public option,” we’ll have surly government employees bossing around the neighbors after we evict them and a Web site for people to report any negative comments the neighbors make about us.

Another great trigger idea: We get to pull Keith Olbermann’s hair to see if it’s a toupee — but only when triggered by his laughably claiming to have gone to an Ivy League university, rather than the bovine management school he actually attended.