Process for Obtaining Michigan Marriage Records

The State of Michigan in the United States of America has a long history that dates back three centuries to the settlers and the British and French colonizers. It was the French who started the Michigan colony and then it was ceded to the British. When admitted to the Union in 1837, its population had already touched 80,000. Several generations had already married in the state by then.

Even in modern times, people have come to live and marry in the state. It is thus not surprising that marriage records in the state have been maintained for a long time.

Recordkeeping Came Naturally

The early white settlers were mainly French, and were Roman Catholic by faith. In fact, St. Anne’s in Detroit, established in 1701, is the second oldest Catholic parish in the country.

Every event among parishioners and communities, from baptism to burial, and every worldly transaction is carefully documented. As Roman Catholicism remained Michigan’s dominant faith until the 19th century, marriage records were well maintained at least in the church parishes and secretariat.

For a while, the influx of American Protestant settlers in the growth decades reduced the Roman Catholics to a minority. Thereafter, there were successive waves of Catholics from Ireland and Europe. A tradition of recordkeeping morphed into secular Michigan bureaucratic practice.

Marriage Records are Par of the Public's Domain

Did you know that in the U.S., you have the legal right to ask for marriage records? Did you also know that the counties and the states are legally bound to maintain and update the marriage records and other vital statistics such as birth and death records?

In other words, if you can establish that you are a U.S. citizen, and can prove that you can legitimately receive a copy of the marriage record, then all you need to do is submit a request and it can be yours quite quickly. Yes, you can receive your copy of Michigan marriage records for just $26.00.

How to Obtain Your Copy of Michigan Marriage Records

If you apply for Michigan marriage records in person, and submit your request by 3:00 pm on a working day, you can receive them the same day.

The State of Michigan Vital Records Office is located just south of the state capital at 201 Townsend Street, Capitol View Bldg, 3rd Floor, Lansing MI 48913. It is open 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday, except for state holidays. It does not close for lunch.

You can send your request to this office for your Michigan marriage records. You can also ask for records of births and deaths that go as far back as 1867, and divorce records that go back to as early as 1897. Unofficial genealogical and demographic investigators have gone further, so that sources now exist of Michigan marriage records from 1851!

For records and corrections to marriage records prior to January 1867, you will need to contact the county where the marriage took place. For divorce record correction, you will need to approach the court that granted the divorce.

In the state of Michigan there are 83 counties and all of them have maintained records. However, not all counties maintain all records. So for best results, before making that request, you might want to call up the county office and find out whether the information you want is actually maintained there. If you find that this is not the case, then you can approach another source.

Why Should You Ask for Marriage Records in Michigan?

There are actually many reasons why you may want to get a copy of a marriage record in Michigan. First, you may want to check on someone to find out more about him/her. Perhaps you are getting married and just want to confirm that the person in question is not already married.

Secondly, perhaps you are carrying out a genealogy search to locate a lost uncle or aunt. Or, perhaps you want to find that great-grandfather whom you know used to stay in Michigan and was married there. In fact, genealogy research is the number one reason why most people ask for marriage records.

State marriage records are authenticating documents, and used as primary sources in researching genealogy. You can receive information about the date and place of registration, the marrying couple, their parents (the mother’s maiden name), residence at the time of wedding, witnesses, and the person conducting the wedding.

Other Ways You Can Learn More About a Person

Reverse mobile checkups and record searches allow you to find out information about a person in the United States of America. This data is extracted from thousands of private and public sources. There are many public search services that have access to a majority of both cellular numbers and phone numbers in the U.S.