Northwest Indiana Publishes Marriage Records

The Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society, which represents the genealogy interests of Lake and Porter counties, has just published a 2-volume set of marriage records that were performed by Justices of the Peace in Crown Point, Indiana during 1935-1946, which includes a period in which the city was known as a "Marriage Mill." The set consists of 1,100 pages and 42,400 names, and is indexed by both bride and groom.

For a time in Indiana law, if you went to a Justice of the Peace to be married, you didn't have to be a resident of that particular county--you just had to present your marriage license, which was issued from the county in which you lived. The significance of this publication is that the majority of the people who are included did not actually have a Lake County marriage license (and thus are not included in marriage indexes for Lake County).

The top states represented in this publication are:

1. Illinois 18,909 individuals


2. Indiana 18,061 individuals


3. Wisconsin 2,724 individuals


4. Michigan 974 individuals


5. Ohio 257 individuals


6. Iowa 157 individuals


7. New York 131 individuals


8. Minnesota 116 individuals


9. California 103 individuals


10. Missouri 99 individuals

The top city represented is Chicago, with 15,140 individuals. Milwaukee has 1,308 individuals, and 311 came from Detroit.

The days of the "Marriage Mill" came to an end when a 3-day waiting period was enacted in March 1940.

This marriage records set is library-bound. The cost is $150.00 plus $16.25 for shipping and handling. Make checks payable to Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society and send to:

NWIGS
P.O. Box 565
Griffith, IN 46319