Process for Obtaining Missouri Marriage Records

Marriages may be made in heaven, but the records verifying them are available here on Earth. In fact, marriage records have been properly maintained for a long time now, but in recent times it has become much easier to access these records.

Across the United States in the various states, it is the legal right of a citizen to access these marriage records, and thus, the database is updated and maintained under public domain by the authorities in various states. It has been mandated by law that the public should have full access to such vital data, and this is the case in the State of Missouri as well. Thus, in Missouri and elsewhere, it is the business of appointed state repositories to maintain state level records.

Why Would Someone be Interested in Searching for Missouri Marriage Records?

There are many reasons why so many these days are searching for marriage records. In fact, if anything, the demand to access the state level marriage records have gone up in recent times and this perhaps can be attributed to the fact that it has now become much easier to do so. The Internet is also playing a major role in this trend because people can now use the World Wide Web access the records.

Plus, the fact that there are no legal concerns, no need to fill out any form and almost no waiting period and queue has made things even easier. It is online and it is instant, and naturally those who want to access the records are pleased.

In most cases marriage records are searched when people need some credible information for genealogy research, to track parents, carry out a background check and also when they are trying to find out more about a prospective spouse. For a long time now, these records have been the primary source of this type of information.

The information received can be the details of the person such as the personal particulars of the married couple, the witnesses and the parents.  A marriage record search can also reveal the name of the person who was responsible for carrying out the marriage ceremony officially. In addition, issued marriage certificates by the local and state governments also include the mothers' maiden names and the residence.

Missouri Marriage Records – How Do I Receive Copies of Marriage Records?

The marriage records maintained in the State of Missouri go back a long time – in fact, they date back more than 100 years. The statewide records have been maintained from the month of August 1909. But in the city of St. Louis, the act of maintaining records goes back even earlier than that; death records can date back to 1850, and birth records can be found from as early as 1870.

As is expected, these earlier records do not comply completely with modern recordkeeping standards. Even so, the records meet as much as 60% compliance, which is quite good. The County Recorder's office maintains all marriage records in the State of Missouri. Apart from the county offices, marriage records in the state can also be obtained from the Department of Central State Records.

Thus, anyone needing a marriage record can find it in the County Recorder's office. Though the records are maintained from 1909 onwards, it might be possible to access a copy of the marriage record prior to that as well. For this type of record, the applicant needs to write a request to the Recorder for that particular county.

When filling out an application for marriage records in the State of Missouri or in other parts of the United States, it is necessary to furnish as much information about the person as possible. This is because there may be two people with the same name in the same jurisdiction, and if this is indeed the case then there is a possibility that someone will end up receiving the wrong information. That is why a record search must include as much information as possible.

Though searching for marriage records has become much easier over the years, even today some citizens will feel it is quite a bit of work. They have to find out where to apply, how to apply and then send an application to the correct office. Many of these searchers would rather hire a company for this, and there are quite a few of them out there (both offline and online).

Of course, these companies will typically charge a small service charge for this. However, if you are trying to obtain a copy of the marriage records yourself, the service is generally free of charge. There are some people who even hire detectives or private investigators for the job. These professionals may also be able to gather much more information in addition to these marriage records.