Marriage Records Research Initiative

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

In Tennessee the law declares that most marriage license information collected during the license process is a public record. Issuance authority is given to the elected County Clerk in his or her jurisdiction. Additionally, the Clerk is charged with the responsibility of preserving the history of that license after it is returned to the Clerk by the person solemnizing the Rites of Matrimony. Marriage records have been kept in Hamilton County, Tennessee since 1857 so availability of records was not a problem. The problem was accessibility. Marriages from 1857 to 1996 were only available by looking page by page in a seven pound book that served as the application for marriage license recorded in early years. Working with Hamilton County’s Department of Information Technology, a computerized way to store the data was established. Beginning in 2008, the County Clerk released, via the internet, a simple search utility that allows researchers to locate Hamilton County marriages online. Searches are designed to work by entering either the name of the bride or groom or the date of marriage.