Justice of the Peace

While judges sometimes perform marriages, laws have existed in most states for over 200 years that allow the appointment or election of justices of the peace to take the place of judges who are needed on the bench.

The town or county clerk issued a marriage license, which the couple presented to the justice of the peace. After the justice performed the marriage, he submitted a record (called a marriage return) to the clerk's office. The information on the return, usually the names of the person's married and the date of the ceremony, is posted to the original marriage license in the record book.

Some justices used a register to record information about the marriages they performed and forwarded a copy of the register entry to the town or county clerk. Those registers may be in the possession of one of the justice's descendants, the current town or county clerk, or a local library or archives. Some have been microfilmed.

Write to the town or county clerk where you believe a marriage took place to obtain a copy of a marriage license. Fee sure to include some payment for the search, usually $10.00 will be sufficient for a search covering a five-year period, and ask the clerk to send a bill for the balance owed. Obstacles to obtaining a marriage record include: Not knowing the state or county where a couple married. Not knowing the exact date or year of marriage. Incomplete or erroneous indexing. Illegible handwriting that a clerk cannot read. Asking a public record clerk to perform a complicated search, such as looking for a marriage over a twenty-year period.

The Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the largest collection of published and microfilmed marriage records in existence, including records maintained by a justice of the peace. Those records can be used at the Main Library in Salt Lake City or at a Family History Center in other locations within Utah and elsewhere in the United States.

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