Marriages, Prince Georges County, Maryland, 1777 to 1886, Part 00 1777 to 1886 Indexed under his & her family names This file, Preable . Copyright © 2004 by Hugh Tornabene htinusa@aol.com This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm . . . The FILES. There are eight files in the mariag0x.txt set, this one, and seven others which hold the actual marriage lists. . The ARRANGEMENT. The marriage lists are arranged alphabetically by UPPER-CASE, surnames. Each UPPER-CASE, surname belongs to every line below it till you hit the next UPPER-CASE, surname. Each marriage is listed twice, once under each spouse's family name. . The SOURCE. This is a digital version of a type-written book found in the Maryland Room of the Hyattsville Branch of Prince George's Public Library in Prince George's County, Maryland, USA. The book bears no copyright. 6530 Adelphi Rd. Hyattsville, MD 20782 Tel: 301-985-4690 . txt file PRODUCTION. This digital version was transcribed using a scanner and OCR software by Hugh Tornabene, January 2004. The OCR software added to the Marriage lists errors of the OCR kind, most of which have been corrected. htinusa@aol.com 410 798 6152 763, Harwood Rd., Harwood, Md., USA . From the BOOK. INDEX OF MARRIAGE LICENSES, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND 1777 - 1886, by Helen W. Brown, 1971. FOREWORD INDEX OF MARRIAGE LICENSES, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND 1777 - 1886 provides the genealogical researcher with a convenient list of over 13,000 male and female names, which are recorded in five hand-written books at the Hall of Records, Annapolis, Maryland. Anyone wishing a copy of the original entry should give the name and date of license which he finds in this index, and send $1 with his request to the Hall of Records. History and Description At the February 1777 session, of the Maryland General Assembly "An Act concerning marriages" was passed. Among the outlined specifications it states that "no person is to marry without a license." And that "thirty shillings of current money shall be paid." In one of the articles it further states that "returns shall be made by the clerk annually in November and sent to the Treasurer of his Shore." At that time the clerk was to pay the treasurer "25 shillings current money for each License by him granted, retaining five shillings on each License for his Trouble." The first marriage license recorded in Prince George's County after this law became effective was issued May 31, 1777 to James Nevitt and Ruth Conn. The first three license books are approximately 7 by 9 inches and are nicely bound in red. They consist of pages, now laminated, from various types of notebooks written in numerous styles of hand-writing, some of which are barely legible. I believe the names have been copied from other accounts, sometimes more than once. Since names were spelled the way the name sounded to the writer, the researcher should imagine variant spellings of a name if he doesn't immediately find the name he is looking for in this index. 1. The first book covering May 31,1777 to October 30,1797 and May 2 1818 to October 5, 1826 is titled on the first page; Marriage Records, John Read Magruder, Clerk, Prince George's County Court commencing 20th May Anno 1777. The records beginning May 2, 1818 are not as neatly inscribed as those kept by Mr. Magruder and the name of the clerk is not given. Several pages have been crossed out and recopied in book #3. 2. The second red book contains two notebooks, the first being licenses granted by Benjamin Beall from May 4,1798 to September 28, 1803. The second notebook (slightly larger in size with no clerk's name given) covers licenses granted May 16,1804 to Apri1 22, 1818. 3. The third red book covers the period from January 7, 1797 to April 16,1817. After the first 73 pages were written, evidently a new clerk was appointed, for the book was reversed and pages 1 through 188 cover licenses issued from November 7, 1826 to November 26.1880. On page 185 is the following personal account of A. Beall in a/c with B. Beall Loaned you in Court to pay deposit of 262. Loaned you for mother 40. Paid N. Beall for Jno. S. Belt 4.50 1828 Ditto you balance on Jno. Wards license 6.00 Oct.30Ditto you by Jno. S. Belt retail license 12.00 Ditto by Ordinary License 18.00 l829 Ditto by Ditto Ordinary License 15.00 Feb'y Ditto by Ditto " " 5.00 Ditto for (?) . 3.00 Ditto paid for proper Stage fare .50 The remaining books are larger in size than those described above, the fourth being 14-1/4 by 17-1/4 inches. It is a leather-bound, canvas covered ledger. The fifth book is 8-3/4 by 14 inches. 4. The fourth book of licenses from 1865 to 1867 has columns for age, color, condition (meaning widower, single or widow), occupation, and residence of the persons. One clerk wrote "healthy" in the condition column. This recording of extra information concerning the licenses, helpful to the researcher, was unfortunately kept for two years only. The fifth book for December 11, 1879 to June 22, 1886, gives the names of the ministers performing the marriages. In the following index I have indicated these ministers' names with parentheses. It is possible, due to various circumstances, that people were married in Prince George' s County without recorded licenses during the period covered by these records. Therefore, one should consult existing church registers of this period before giving up a search. However, I believe the names indexed here will be useful to many persons, and the hours which I have spent on this project will prove worthwhile for them. Helen W. Brown, 4704 Fordham Road, College Park, Maryland, 20740