Find Ohio Marriage records with ease
There are some important facts to know about Ohio marriage records. The Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics does not have marriage licenses on file only abstracts. It has marriage abstracts from January 1954 to the present. (An abstract is a form that only list some of the marriage license information.) This office provides information that helps you find court records.
The Office of Vital Statistics helps locate licenses from county courts. Licenses are issued by the County Probate Court in which the couple was married. You will need to contact the appropriate County Probate Court. Go to http://www.odh.ohio.gov/vitalstatistics/mrgdiv.aspx to find the address and phone of the court you need.
When you request a marriage abstract include the following information: the name of the bride and groom, the marriage date, the city where the marriage was performed, the years to be searched, and your address and phone number including area code. There will be a $3.00 fee for every ten year period searched per last name. Your request will take from two to three weeks after it is received.
If you do not locate the information you are looking for through the county courts, you can search census records for the ten year period in question. Census records can give you the name and ages of the spouses and children at the time the census was taken and the state where each person was born. It will also give you the husband’s occupation. This information is free and maybe searched on line by going to the following web site: http://www.censusfinder.com/ohio.htm.
When searching for Ohio marriage records, carefully choose which sites you use or you may end up paying a fee for information you thought was free. Many of these sites appear to be sponsored by the Ohio state government, but are actually private companies.
If you choose to let some one else do the searching for you, there are many internet companies will find the information you are looking for a fee.