WORK IN PROGRESS -- Updated 21 April 2015

This Index includes marriages from around the Coastal Georgia area, and is by no means complete.

Counties included:  Glynn, Camden, Brantley, Wayne, Ware, Pierce, Appling, and many others.

ALL marriages in Glynn County from it's earliest record until 1898 are indexed in full here.  If you do not see it listed, it was not recorded in Glynn County.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT DID NOT HAPPEN HERE; just that it wasn't RECORDED at our court house.

The listings are by grooms and brides combined and include the date the license was issued, the date the marriage was performed, who performed the marriage, parents if known, followed by the book and page number, then a section for notes about the license, if any. 

The listing of parents is purely speculative based on family history research done by myself and others;
by no means should you assume that the parents were listed on the marriage record.

The book and page listings for the licenses are noted as A-102 for example.  In the case of the separated books, they will be listed as the book was titled.  For example "Book D Colored Marriages" will be noted as D-col-102.  So please do not take offense, this was not my doing.  For some reason Glynn County started separating them at book D, then combining them again several books later.  So there are Books D and E for white people as well.

Of course there are probably numerous mistakes, I'm only human.  Many "white" marriages were recorded in the "colored" books and vice versa, perhaps the clerk's idea of suggesting how stupid it was to separate them.  There again, please do not get offended if you ancestor was listed "inappropriately" in your opinion.  I am merely transcribing the records as they were recorded and am not suggesting anything.

I am working on combining my index with one compiled by Ruth N. Vicent and her sister-in-law, the late Sara R. Cassidy.  All marriages after Book C Glynn County and those from all other counties, were compiled by them and therefore I can not answer questions about the information.  Ruth and Sara did not make a true transcription, part of their method was to list people by their full names as they knew them and not by what was on the certificate; so do not assume that the name you see in the index was as it was found on the actual license.

Under the "Miscellaneous Marriage License Images" you will find images for either an actual certificate, or for the page in the marriage books.

Fees as of January 2008 were $.25 per page and a $5 certification fee.
Please provide names and the record location [Book & Page] when requesting copies.
Do not send a list of names to be looked up!

Glynn County Probate Court
701 G Street
Brunswick, GA 31520
(912) 554-7231
Monday-Friday 8AM to 5PM

Fees as of September 2006 were $.25 per page and an optional $5 certification fee
[not mandatory]

McIntosh County Probate Court
Darien, GA 31520

Marriage Banns

    A marriage ban is a public notice stating that a man and a woman have plans to marry on a certain date. State laws, dating from 1799 through 1863, refer to the publication of marriage banns in a church for at least three weeks. Later laws do not cite a time period with regard to banns. The law authorized a Justice or Minister to marry a couple if they had been granted a marriage license or if marriage banns had been published, and after 1863, required him to certify to the Ordinary that the marriage was performed. The Ordinary, in turn, was to record this in the book with the marriage licenses. One may expect to find few, if any, references to marriage banns, either in County Marriage cooks, or Church Minute Books.

Marriage Notices

    Notices of marriages are in some cases published in newspapers, usually announcing a marriage which has already taken place. One may not expect to find a marriage notice for most pre-1900 Georgia marriages. Those that do exist are found most frequently in the newspapers of major towns, and cite usually name of bride and groom, county or town of residence, and date of marriage.

    Incidentally, do not expect to find the signatures of the bride and groom on most marriage documents. A groom, bound to a county official in a marriage bond, is expected to sign a marriage bond. When transcribing or recording this record his name may be followed by the abbreviation "LS", indicating that the original record contained his legal signature.

Abbreviations

• CC; CCO; CO – Clerk of the Court; Clerk of the Court of Ordinary; County Ordinary: The term "Ordinary" is most often used to indicate the name of the county office holder whose duties include the issuing of marriage bonds, granting of marriages. (Example: CCOFC – Clerk of the Court of Ordinary of Fulton County.)
• DC; DCO – Deputy Clerk; Deputy Clerk of Court of Ordinary: May grant marriage licenses and record marriages in absence of the Clerk of the Court of Ordinary. There are infrequent references to a Deputy Clerk.
• JIC – Justice of the Inferior Court: Justices may perform marriages. Likewise, a Justice of the Inferior Court may sign a marriage certificate indicating he married a particular man and woman. (Example: JICRC – Justice of the Inferior Court.)
• JP – Justice of the Peace: With regard to performing and certifying marriages, a Justice of the Peace has the same authority as a Minister or a Justice of the Inferior Court. However, the performing of marriages by Justices of the Peace and Ministers is more frequent than by Justices of the Inferior Court.
• MG – Minister of Gospel: Ministers, like Justices and Judges, may join persons in marriage, and in the same manner, certify that the marriage was performed.
• RP – Register of Probates: Before approximately 1800, the Register of Probates handled estate settlements, marriage records and other matters. These duties were later handled by the Ordinary.

For more laws and regulations, visit the State Archives and type in "marriages" in the search engine.