Accessing the New York City Bride and Groom Index in One Step
Frequently Asked Questions

Stephen P. Morse , San Francisco

1. When I click on the bride or groom link that is on your results page, why do I sometimes get the none-found message?

The bride's index is still being worked on.  As of this writing (January 2006), the following remains to be transcribed:

Brooklyn between 1911 and 1930
Queens before 1905
Manhattan all (none of Manhattan has been transcribed yet)
Also there are some years that have been completed for the bride's index but not for the groom's.  For example, the groom's index starts in 1908 whereas the bride's index starts much earlier than that.  So if you've found a bride in 1905 for example, and click on her groom link, you will not find any.

Another possibility is that there is a transcription error in the groom or bride database.  Examples of such errors are given in question 2.
 

2. When I click on the bride or groom link that is on your results page, why do I sometimes get more than one match?

There are possible transcription errors in the database, resulting in more than one man or women having the same certificate number.  For example, there are two brides both having certificate number 5012 in 1935 Bronx (namely Pauline Dorum and Jennie Geller) but none in 1932.  Probably one of them was married in 1932 but was mistakenly transcribed as 1935.  Interestingly, there are two occurrences in the database for that certificate number in 1936 Bronx, but the bride's name on both is the same (Alice S Fox).
 

3. How do I obtain a copy of the actual marriage certificate?

Family Search (online division of the Family History Library) has now instituted a free email photoduplication service whereby you can order up to five certificates a month.]


-- Steve Morse