King and Queen Marriage Records Now Available in the Museum Library

Titles: King and Queen County, Virginia Marriage Records: Transcripts of Consents, Affidavits, Minister Returns, and Marriage Licenses, Volume 1: 1853-1874 and Volume 2: 1875-1886. Volume 1, 383 pages, includes 1,019 marriages, and Volume 2, 361 pages, includes 922 marriages. Published by Suzanne P. Derieux and Wesley E. Pippenger of Tappahannock, Virginia.

Researchers may be aware that the public records for King and Queen County were in most part destroyed by fires in April 1828 and 1864. The compilers collected data from six main sources: (1) a modern typewritten index to marriages, (2) bound Certificates to Obtain a Marriage License that begin in September 1867; (3) a bound register of marriages that begins in 1872 (in the Circuit Court Clerk’s office); (4) loose register pages from the Auditor of Public Accounts (at the Library of Virginia); (5) loose marriage licenses that begin in 1858; and (6) records from local area churches. The compilers consulted numerous other sources to insert in brackets information missing in the original marriage record. For example, maiden names or names of parents that are blank in one marriage and may be present in another, or complete names may be inscribed on a cemetery tombstone. These types of additions are inserted in brackets in these publications. Also included in each volume is a list of abbreviations, list of ministers and their denominations and church associations (if known), and a transcription of applicable laws affecting marriages or the keeping of marriage records.