Marriage Records

Marriage Licenses:

We have marriage licenses on paper in the file cabinets downstairs and microfilm from February 1879 – April 1913.  It appears that most of the 1884 licenses were missing before microfilming.

Marriage Affidavits:

We have marriage affidavits on microfilm from May 1909 – December 1950.

We also have the original affidavits in locked cabinets in the basement through 1989.  There are some missing: 1907-8 and a few in December 1941, which were missing before microfilming, and 1943-50, which are being indexed but are on the microfilm.

Marriage Ledgers:

We have the original marriage record ledgers from the Sedgwick County Courthouse from May 1870 to Feb 1971.  Each book has an index in the front.  We are looking for volunteers to help complete our master index (see how far we’ve gotten below.)

Marriage Indexes:

We have a published (printed) marriage index from May 7, 1870 to Nov 25, 1933.

We also have marriage indexes on the website, which are in flux as we work on indexing.

• Our original, printed, indexes cover May 9, 1870 to May 24, 1922, May 24, 1922 to 25 Nov. 1933 and May 24, 1922 to December 1941, and Sep 4, 1949 to April 7, 1950.
• Our new master index will cover both marriage books and the affidavits.  It’s a work in progress. You can find it here.
• The later books, starting in 1966, have a typed, name-only index in the front of the book.  We have OCR’d these indexes and posted them here.  As we get a more complete index done for a book, we’ll delete the book from this index and add it to the other one.

Some affidavits are missing even if they are listed in the index.  There are some license applications with no returns to confirm that a marriage was performed.  There is even a period, April 1, 1915 to May 28, 1917, for which there are no marriages recorded, although there are applications.

In general, if the online index uses a date as the identifier, we have the record. If the online index uses a number, such as R405, we do not have the record.

We have some engagement and marriage announcements from the Wichita Eagle/Beacon, mostly from the 1940s and 50s.

Copies

You can request copies of the marriage book records and/or the affidavits using our copy request form .  In most cases, the marriage book record will contain the most information.  The affidavit may include addition information when one of the parties was underage and required parental consent for marriage.  Otherwise, these records do not include the names of parents.  After 1947, the affidavit may include information about waivers for the three-day waiting period and blood tests.

Divorce Records

MHGS holds microfilmed copies of divorce files from 1871 to February 1917.

Divorce Index

Where else to look:

FamilySearch.org has Sedgwick county marriages from 1855-1910.

Marriage records are only sort of public in Kansas.  Before May 1, 1913, they were managed at the county level, and are public records.  These are the records that are available at FamilySearch.org and the Kansas State Historical Society, among other places.

After May 1, 1913, marriages were managed at the state level.  Copies of marriage certificates may be ordered through the Dept of Health and Environment’s website.  Marriage licenses issued after September 2015 are confidential; only court employees, KDHE staff members and the parties involved can get access, and some information may be redacted. The text of the new rule may be found here.