The NYC Marriage License Index
Database updated 15 August 2023; 3,413,915 total records
Marriage Licenses, New York City 1950-1995
This is a database of an index to 3,124,595 marriage licenses filed in New York City between 1950-1995. This index is the result of the work of the Reclaim The Records group (https://www.reclaimtherecords.org). Images of the printed index can be found at: https://archive.org/details/
The marriage license is a three-page document set originally issued by the City Clerk's Office.
Licenses from 1908 through 1949 are at the New York City Municipal Archives.
The marriage licenses represented by this 1950-1995 index database are available from the New York City Clerk's Office (http://cityclerk.nyc.gov/html/marriage/records.shtml). A Marriage Record older than 50 years from today's date is considered a historic record and is available to the general public. Marriage Records created within 50 years from today's date are restricted; See the City Clerk web site, above, for the details.
Marriage Licenses, Richmond 1908-1938, 29,361 records.
The original hand-written index to the Richmond marriage licenses has many, many errors and much missing information. It is missing over 100 marriages for which we could not find a groom, and over 700 for which there is no bride; especially in the earlier years. There are more than 170 instances where the index register has the same license number shown for two different marriages. There are over 400 missing license numbers in this index.
In creating this index when a bride was indicated without a groom (and vice versa) an attempt was made to see if there is an entry in the marriage certificate database. In many of these cases a marriage certificate could not be found in any New York City borough. If a match was found the missing spouse was added to this index: 155 grooms and 302 brides were added.
In view of all of the above, be very careful about how you will use this information. It appears that many of the marriages licenses were either never consummated in a marriage ceremony, or the marriage occurred outside of New York City.
Marriage Licenses, Queens 1908-1930, 637,756 records.
These records were created in a similar manner as the above Richmond records.
Marriage Licenses, Kings 1908-1917, 166,637 records.
These records were created in a similar manner as the above Richmond records.
Records Search: NYC Marriage Licenses
Please note that the Surname (e.g. Last Name) is a required entry field. But since exact spellings are not always known, to aid your search we offer three different ways to specify Surnames...
- Exact Match ("is exactly") - This is the default surname search method.
- Soundex ("sounds like") - This option enables you to specify a surname spelling it out as best you can, and it will return results that "sound" similar to what you spelled out.
- Wild Card - With this option you can replace part of the surname with a * to match any number of letters, or _ to match a single letter. E.g., Sch* will return all names starting with Sch. Similarly, Schl_tz might return results such as Schlitz or Schlotz.
NOTE: The wild card option applies ONLY to the surname. You can just enter the first few letters of a First Name; the search automatically adds a wild card to the end of the First Name.
For whichever of the above surname search options you would like to use, simply select the appropriate radio button option below the input field on the form. Although the additional form fields are optional, providing as much information as you can helps narrow your search. The more specific your search, the less time you need spend scrolling through search results!
New York City 1950-1990:
The German Genealogy Group wishes to thank the "Reclaim The Records" group, who obtained and made available the index to these records!
Richmond Licenses 1908-1938:
And thank you to the following volunteers:
Barbara Abrams * Marie Arena * Meg Assip * Carol Aivazian * Dick Bernard * Bernadette Bono * Warren Bosch * Ethel Buebendorf * usan Callahan * Kristin Campbell * Renee Capitaniao * Larry Carroll * Patricia Carter * Mary Anne Chiariello * Bob Clancy * Christine Clark * Carol Cook * Wayne Coleman * Belinda Dapice * Michelle DeAmelio * Kim DeFalco * Dianne Delitto * Donald Eckerle * Robin Ehlich * Bill Fenton * eorge Ferguson * Kathy Field * Eve Fowler * Bill Hennigan * Patricia Hervey * Marie Inglee * Dale Jacobi * Ken Kennedy * Jean King * JoAnn Kronenfeld * Robert Landau * Cristina Laszcz * Bill Manteria * Kerry Neely * Lynne Schneider * Eileen Swanberg * Mark Waldron * Hildegarde Weigel
Queens Licenses 1908-1930:
And thank you to the following volunteers:
Dean Ab-Hugh * John Allen * Shelby Bennett * Elizabeth Brockington * Anton Bruchhauser * Sally Bruckheimer * Georgia Capobianco * Douglas Cioffi * Barbara Coughlin * Joanne Daniels * Donald Eckerle * Tom Erickson * Elaine Feit * Bill Fenton * Cynthia Fitzgerald * Barbara Garza * Patty Gault * Noelle Giesse * Marge Goldin * Lisa Gordon * Richard Graziano * Teresa Guidice * Edward A. Guinness * Mary Hackett * Sandi Hamilton * Cheryl Hannan * Margaret Hannan * Barbara Hershey * Patricia Hervey * Kendra Hill * Christine Hoffman * Joan Holmes * Susan Hoppe * Sue Irvine * Sue Irvine * Eden Joachim * Juliette Johnson * Maurice I. Kessler * Charles Lagana * Robin Lageman * AnnMarie Lahti * Robert Landau * Cathy Langhoff * Cristina Laszcz * Barbara Leckstein * Barbara Leckstein * Marshall Lerner * Cynthia Link * A J Logan * Denise Lombardo * Evelyn Ludwig * Kelly Lutz * Michele Magee * Sandy Malek * Sandy Malek * John P Malone * Bill Manteria * Ruth Maraglio * Karen Massoni * Barbara Matassa * Lynn Mathias * Sandy Murphy * Russ Maurer * Jill McGirr * Rosemary McHugh * Sarah McKeever * Carol McWilliams * Carolyn Melito * Valerie Meola * Nancy Miles * Rose Mirabella * Carolyn Mitchell * Donna Mitchell * Paul Monaghan * Mary Morabito * Marlene Mozgala * Barbara Nelson * Candace Nourse-Hatch * Robert Palmer * Theone Paras * Susan Parilis * Donna Parrone * Phyllis Pascazio * Kathleen Pecarovich * Patricia Pepe * JoAnn Perry * Rebekah Peterson * Jennifer Petrino * Diane Pezzimenti * Heather Pollard * Lisa R. Poole * Bonnie Popet * Nicole Price * Nancy Profit * Marguerite Puca * Barbara Puster * Ellen Quinn * Kim Raffaelli * Lucy Rafter * Elizabeth Ratigan * Ann Rebholz * Mimi Reed * Carol Resch * Loretta M. Riccardelli * Gary Roberts * Deborah Robson * Elaine Roth * Barbara Russo * Judith Salomon * Sarah Samuel * Regina Sanders * Debbie Saunders * Elias Savada * Barbara Schaffer * Nima Schierloh * Henry F Schreiber * Alexandra Shand * Roberta Shepherd * Helen Siebert * Susan Taylor * Pat Uhrmann * Nanci Vaeth * Pat VanLandingham * Mark Waldron * Larry Weingartner * Judy Weinstein * Daria J. West * Ann White * Loretta M. Wolf * Cathy Zeltmann * Jeanine Zeltmann * Jill Schoenberg
Kings Licenses 1908-1924:
And thank you to the following volunteers:
Carol Aivazian * Ann Borden * Sue Bouraoui * Dan Callaghan * Mary Anne Cella * Jessie Cinelli * Christine Clark * Janice Clauer * Suzanne Danet * Belinda Dapice * Alexandria de Luise * Peter De Pippo * Michelle DeAmelio * Karen DeGeiso * Karen Dwyer * Don Eckerle * Bill Fenton * Nora Fitzgerald * Janice Fooks * Mark Foster * Gillian Gail * Mary-Ann Gallo * Natalie Glines * Lisa Gordon * Richard Graziano * Ursula Gregory * Marilyn Grosbeck * Donna Guinaw * Sandi Hamilton * David Hauck * Eileen Holland * Joan Holmes * Joyce Iwata * Dale Jacobi * Juliette Johnson * Nicole Mannino Johnson * Colleen Justice * Stephen Kane * Virginia Keller * Kathleen Kelly * Maurice I. Kessler * Phebe Kirkham * Ken Kravitz * Kimberly Kummer * Robin Lageman * Joyce Lambert * Jim Mango * Bill Manteria * Laura Mattera * Bill Mayrose * Jill McGirr * Rosemary McHugh * Carol McWilliams * Valerie Meola * Suzanne Milanese * Rose Mirabella * Donna Mitchell * Bob Mittenzwei * Dennis Nodar * Erin O'Hea * Wendy O'Neill * Theone Paras * Patricia Pepe * Louise Perrotta * JoAnn Perry * Lucy Rafter * Rossana Roby * Dee Royere * Dee Royere * Dee Royere * Violet Sardo * Robert Sayre * Mary Schultz * Judy Schuster * Jo Anne Sclafani * William Sennello * Chris Shaffery Collinge * Alexandra Shand * Stuart Shippey * Beth Shutts * Christine Sigismondi * Doug Smith * Susan Speers * Nancy Spencer * Cynthia Spikell * Suzanne St. Onge * Alan Steinfeld * Carol Stewart * Eileen Swanberg * Donna Taub * Susan Taylor * Marsha Tesdal * Cathy Tipton * Kathy Tricomi * Nancy Tucker * Judith Turbin * Barbara Tyler * Pat Uhrmann * Pat VanLandingham * Jean Viviani * Susan VonBergen * Mark Waldron * Larry Weingartner * Judy Weinstein * Daria J. West * Jean Wharton * Arthur Whelan * Allison White * Helen Wolf * Alice Wolfteich * William Wunderlin * Kate Young *
