Marriage records include licenses, applications, certificates, or registers. Marriage licenses granted a man and woman official permission to marry each other, or for a minister or magistrate to perform such a marriage. Licenses and certificates generally provide the date of the marriage, the name of the person performing the rites, and the names of the parents. Marriage registers are records of marriages performed within a given jurisdiction.
Descriptions of original marriage records held by the State Archives are summarized in the online MARS catalog. Lists of marriage records for select counties are also available. For a county summary of original wills and microfilm held by the the State Archives of North Carolina, please see the Guide to County Records.
Marriage records or indices to marriages may also be available on third party websites. The State Archives provides links to many of these collections in its Digital Collection.