how do you find marriage license from New York

Question

How do you find a marriage license in New York?  is there any free sites I can look on.  I am unable to find a few of the women because they may have married. Does New York not make the birth, marriage and death records public?  Any help would be greatly appreciated

Well looks like I am out of luck. They were married in 1836.  And according to Niagra County, New York the death certificated are from 1882 - on and I was looking for 1881.  

Thank you everyone for the information.  I thought New York would have more records..

Answer 1

Family Search. There are collections of county marriages, and New York City marriages. The four collections cover different time periods. If you consult the catalog for specific New York State locations there may be other records.

Ancestry will have records as well. Although it is a subscription site, you can search it for free at any Family History Center and at many public libraries.

Comments

If one has access to Ancestry, the NYS Marriage Index is a good place to start and/or cross reference from for records 1881-1967 these cover Upstate as well as many within NYC: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61632

New York records, overall, are very hit and miss as far as online specific information.

Answer 2

For modern licenses, there is a site with NYC licenses. NYC Marriage Index - Manhattan 1939, by Reclaim The Records, Publication date: 1939. https://archive.org/details/NYC_Marriage_Index_Manhattan_1939/page/n1001/mode/1up ,

Comments

Here is the search page: https://www.nycmarriageindex.com/

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The 1950-2017 licenses are searchable.  The 1908-1929 ones are available as indexes on Archive.org.  1930-1972 are searchable on Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2727138 or the indexes are at Archive.org.

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They were released as a result of a lawsuit filed by the non-profit group Reclaim the Records.

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Family Search has some records 1829-1938: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2143225

Answer 3

What are the names, date, and location? Can you provide a link to the profile?

New York City and various county records differ. Overall records were not required at the state level until about 1890. You might also find something at the county or town level earlier. Each town has a historian. You might find something in the newspapers at Fultonhistory.com.

As a dower state, you will see the wife's first name in land sale records.

For my grandparents, married in 1895, I found the license number on ancestry. The county did not have the record. It took $22 and over 2 years to get a copy.

Answer 4

In NYC or state? I know NYC keeps marriage records restricted from the general public for 50 years then after that time they become public record. Indexes are available online up to 2017. NYC and NY State have very restrictive access to vital records. NYC death certs are restricted to certain parties for 75 years and birth certificates even longer. NY state death records are public 50 years after the death. Genealogical access to marriage records begins 50 years after the event but you must prove parties are dead, birth is 75 years.

Comments

I was married in New York City in 1961 (which is more than 50 years ago) and can find no record of it in familysearch.  I suspect that the the marriage records liberated by Reclaim the Records have not yet been fully transcribed.

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Interesting observation, thanks for sharing. I wonder how many other records from that period remain untranscribed?

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I noticed Reclaim the Records states this about the index:

Be aware that there are over 30,000 missing records in this database, particularly for the 1950's-1960's.

Answer 5

If you are looking for birth, marriage and death records in the boroughs of NYC, then you can download digitized copies FREE here:

https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/

Digitized Birth Records:

Bronx: 1872 to 1873, 1876, 1888 to 1891, 1895 to 1909

Kings (Brooklyn): 1866 to 1909

Manhattan: 1855, 1857 to 1861, 1863 to 1865, 1866 to 1909

Queens: 1866, 1876, 1883, 1886, 1888 to 1909

Richmond (Staten Island): 1898 to 1909

Digitized Marriage Certificates

Bronx: 1898 to 1937

Kings (Brooklyn): 1866 to 1937

Manhattan: 1866 to 1937

Queens: 1898 to 1937

Richmond (Staten Island): 1898 to 1937

Digitized Death Records:

Bronx: 1898 to 1948

Kings (Brooklyn): 1862 to 1948

Manhattan: 1866 to 1867, 1871 to 1875, 1920 to 1930

Queens: 1898 to 1948

Richmond (Staten Island): 1898 to 1948