If at First You Don't Succeed

One of the strategies for family history research is to collect marriage records for more than one’s own ancestral line. I have collected numerous marriage records for my grandparents’ siblings and first cousins. 

My paternal grandfather had 5 paternal cousins and 2 maternal cousins marry. The weddings took place in 1909, 1910, 1914, 1919 and 1921 and 1910, 1920 and 1950. 

My paternal grandmother had 2 brothers that both married in 1916. They had 2 paternal cousins who married in 1916 and 1919. They had two maternal cousins who married in 1930 and 1937. 

My maternal grandfather had 6 siblings that married in 1919, 1921, 1924, 1927, 1933 and 1944. Their paternal cousins married in 1917, 1923, 1937, 1940 and 1944. Their maternal cousin married in 1941.

My maternal grandmother had 6 siblings that married in 1920, 1925, 1929, 1936, 1949 and 1950. Their paternal cousins married 1916, 1928, 1929, 1929, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1943 and 1946.

As a research aid I especially try to get marriage records for immigrants and the children of immigrants in case the place of origin is provided in either the civil or church registers.  These clues may be either in the marriage license or certificate from the state or the notations from a Catholic sacramental register. I have found specific localities in Ireland mentioned in various marriage records. 

I had struggled to track down a 1937 wedding for one of these cousins. The groom was baptized in 1912 in Manhattan. Although he married there was not the marriage notation I had expected next to his baptismal entry.

I was able to find him in the New Jersey Marriage Index (Brides) through his beloved but it did not provide a date or place for the nuptials. 

I was able to view the 1911 baptismal entry for the bride today. They were married 27 Jun 1937 in an urban area in New Jersey. I had provided this information in my request but it was returned with a letter that they had tried their best and not found it.

Now that I have the church notations I trust that a new search with the exact date and place will result in a find. (I am happy to update the report that a civil marriage certificate was sent to me recently. It detailed the occupation and address of the groom which was helpful in developing his life story.)