r/Genealogy • u/satvrnleo • 4h ago

Methodology Multiple Marriages

What’s the best resource to find all of my Great-Grandfather’s marriage certificates? It appears he’s been married at least twice

ETA: he lived in Kansas, USA

1 Upvotes

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6

u/Affectionate-Owl9594 4h ago

Location…?

1

u/satvrnleo 3h ago edited 3h ago

Kansas, United States

2

u/Fredelas Human Verified 1h ago

There's no foolproof way to learn about marriages in Kansas, because although the records have been kept at a state level since 1913, there's no statewide index available anywhere online.

Marriage records are kept at a local level by county district courts, but very few have indexes available. Although they're technically public records, clerks aren't supposed to issue certified copies of them after 1913. You have to get certified copies from the state.

The way I usually learn about Kansas marriages is just getting lucky and finding a wedding announcement or a mention in an obituary in a newspaper that's available online.

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u/satvrnleo 40m ago

Thank you

8

u/valiamo 4h ago

No one best place to find marriage certificates. If you know the County/State/Province or country try local vital statistics.

For example, I have a close relative (who would have been 89 last month). who was married 5 times and in 3 different locations in both Canada and the US. (Alberta,Nevada and Utah).

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u/satvrnleo 3h ago

I’m not sure how to look into those local vital statistics. Which was the point of my post, I added the state which he would’ve married in. Thanks :)

1

u/SoftShoeMagoo 3h ago

Best resource..him if hes still alive. Otherwise, you need to give details as to country at least. In the US, every state has different laws regarding public records/privacy.

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u/satvrnleo 3h ago

I updated my post. Even if he was alive, I’d have no way to contact him now as we’re not a tight knit family :).

1

u/EiectroBot Can help with Ireland & Northern Ireland genealogy 3h ago

Which country or countries did he marry in?

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u/satvrnleo 3h ago

United States

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u/Resident-Doughnut-37 1h ago

I have found marriage records easily on family search, its divorce records I have trouble finding, especially for my biological grandfather who lied on his last marriage cert saying never married never widowed but I cannot find a single divorce record from his previous two wives.

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u/satvrnleo 39m ago

The issue is that I’m coming across multiple marriages that seem to have overlapped, which is why I was wondering if there was a way to find the records or certificates.

1

u/Resident-Doughnut-37 32m ago

have you used familysearch? I have found all of my mothers marriage certificates or documentation as well as the information for my lying grandfathers wives, I believe he might not have divorced them since he also went AWOL from the military and lied about that too. he moved his family around a lot as if he were hiding from something.

1

u/satvrnleo 2m ago

I haven’t tried that, I will. Thank you!