M1875

MARRIAGE RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER,

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS OF THE BUREAU OF REFUGEES,
FREEDMEN, AND ABANDONED LANDS, 18611869

Records prepared for microfilming by members of the Civil War Conservation Corps,
under the direction of Russ and Budge Weidman.
Introduction by Reginald Washington.

United States Congress

and
National Archives and Records Administration
Washington, DC
2002

This National Archives microfilm publication is part of a multiyear project to

microfilm the field office records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands (Freedmens Bureau). The project was made possible by the
United States Congress through The Freedmens Bureau Records Preservation Act
of 2000 (Public Law 106-444). When completed, all of the field records for the
States of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, and for the District of Columbia will be available on microfilm. For
microfilm availability and description, consult the current edition of the National
Archives publication Microfilm Resources for Research: A Comprehensive Catalog.
You can also view the National Archives microfilm locator on our web site at
[Link].

United States. National Archives and Records Administration.

Marriage records of the Office of the Commissioner,
Washington Headquarters of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen,
and Abandoned Lands, 18611869. Washington, DC : United
States Congress and National Archives and Records
Administration, 2002.
13 p. ; 23 cm. (National Archives microfilm publications.
Pamphlet describing ; M 1875)
Cover title.
Records prepared for microfilming by members of the Civil
War Conservation Corps . . . Introduction by Reginald
Washington.
1. United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned
Lands Archives Microform catalogs. 2. Marriage records
United States Microform catalogs. 3. African Americans
Genealogy Microform catalogs. 4. Freedmen United States
Genealogy Microform catalogs. I. Washington, Reginald, 1949
II. Civil War Conservation Corps (U.S.) III. Title.

INTRODUCTION
On the five rolls of this microfilm publication, M1875, are reproduced marriage
records of the Office of the Commissioner, Washington headquarters of the Bureau
of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 18611869. These records consist of
unbound marriage certificates, marriage licenses, monthly reports of marriages, and
other proofs of marriages. The records are part of the Records of the Bureau of
Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Record Group (RG) 105, at the
National Archives Building in Washington, DC.

HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the
Freedmens Bureau, was established in the War Department by an act of March 3,
1865 (13 Stat. 507). The life of the Bureau was extended twice by acts of July 16,
1866 (14 Stat. 173), and July 6, 1868 (15 Stat. 83). Congress assigned to the Bureau
responsibilities previously shared by military commanders and by agents of the
Treasury Department. They included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees
(indigent whites) and freedmen and the custody of all abandoned or confiscated
lands and property. The Act also provided that a Commissioner head the Bureau,
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
In May 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard
as Commissioner. Howard, who served until the Bureau was discontinued in 1872,
established his headquarters at Washington, DC. The size and organization of the
Bureau headquarters varied from over time. Howards staff consisted primarily of
an assistant adjutant general, an assistant inspector general, a chief medical officer,
a chief quartermaster, a chief disbursing officer, and officers in charge of the Claims
Division, the Education Division, and the Land Division.
The Bureaus operations were confined principally to the former Confederate States,
the Border States, and the District of Columbia. The 1865 Act authorized the appointment of Assistant Commissioners to aid the Commissioner in supervising the work
of the Bureau in the states. Generally, the organization of the Bureau in the states
was similar to that of Bureau headquarters in Washington. Subassistant commissioners, subordinate to the staff officers in each state, were responsible for administering Bureau policies in the subdistricts into which the states were divided. Civilian
and military Superintendents, assistant subassistant commissioners, and agents were
under the supervision of the subassistant commissioners.
During the years of its greatest activity, the operations of the Freedmens Bureau
resembled, in many ways, the work of later Federal social agencies. In addition to
supervising the disposition of abandoned or confiscated lands and property, Bureau
officers issued rations, clothing, and medicine to destitute refugees and freedmen.
They established hospitals and dispensaries and supervised tenements and camps for
the homeless. Bureau officers and members of benevolent organizations cooperated
in establishing schools, operating employment offices, and dispensing relief. In
1

addition, Bureau officers supervised the writing of labor contracts and terms of
indenture, issued marriage licenses and certificates and registered marriages, listened
to complaints, and generally were concerned with improving almost all aspects of
the freedmans life. In March 1866, the Bureau assumed the function of helping
black soldiers and sailors and their heirs to file and collect claims for bounties,
pensions, and pay arrearages.
An act of Congress, approved July 25, 1868 (15 Stat. 193), ordered that the
Commissioner of the Bureau shall, on the first day of January next, cause the said
bureau to be with drawn from the several States within which said bureau has acted
and its operation shall be discontinued. Consequently, in early 1869, with the
exception of the superintendents of education and the claims agents, the Assistant
Commissioners and their subordinate officers were withdrawn from the states.
For the next year and a half the Bureau continued to pursue its education work and
to process claims. In the summer of 1870, the superintendents of education were
withdrawn from the states, and the headquarters staff was greatly reduced. From that
time until the Bureau was abolished by an act of Congress approved June 10, 1872
(17 Stat. 366), effective June 30, 1872, the Bureaus functions related almost exclusively to the disposition of claims. The Bureaus records and remaining functions
were then transferred to the Freedmens Branch in the office of the Adjutant
General. The records of this branch are among the Bureaus files.

THE FREEDMENS BUREAU AND MARRIAGE RECORDS

While the primary focus of the Freedmens Bureau was to provide relief and assist
freedmen in becoming self-sufficient, the Bureau was also interested solemnizing
marriages that freedmen had entered into during slavery. Slave marriages had no
legal foundation or protection. Slave husbands and wives, without legal recourse,
could be separated or sold as their owners saw fit. Couples who resided on different
plantations were only allowed to visit with the consent of their masters. Oftentimes
without the benefit of clergy, the marriage ceremony in most cases consisted of the
slaves simply getting the masters permission and moving into a cabin together.1
When freedom came, many sought to remarry and solidify long-standing relations,
while others attempted to marry for the first time.2 They all sought help from Union
Army clergy, Northern missionaries, and the Freedmens Bureau.
On May 30, 1865, Commissioner Howard issued Circular Number 5, which told his
subordinates that in places where the local statutes make no provisions for the
*

When field office records are described in this section, unless a National Archives
microfilm publication number is provided, the records are not yet available on microfilm.
1
John W. Blassingame, The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South
(1979), p. 165. See pages 14991 for discussion of the slave family.
2
For a discussion of slave marriages and freedom, see Ira Berlin and Leslie S. Rowland,
eds., Families and Freedom: A Documentary History of African-American Kinship in the
Civil War Era (1997), especially pages 15592.

marriage of persons of color, the Assistant Commissioners are authorized to

designate officers who shall keep a record of marriages, which may be solemnized
by any ordained minister of the gospel. Howards order was less a policy of the
Bureau than a continuation of a practice begun by military officers and civilians
who supervised contraband camps that freedmen flocked to during the Civil War.
For instance, in the Department of Tennessee and Arkansas, John Eaton, the
superintendent of contrabands, issued Special Order 15 (March 28, 1864) ordering
Union Army clergy to solemnize the rite of marriage among Freedmen. Special
Order 176, issued by the Department of the Gulf (July 4, 1864), ordered clergy in
that Department to unite in marriage, free of charge, such colored soldiers as may
be recommended to them . . . with the women whom such soldiers may select to
be their wives. The earliest record of contraband marriages that appear in
Freedmens Bureau files, and reproduced in this microfilm publication, is an
October 11, 1861, report of marriages of Rev. Lewis C. Lockwood at Camp
Hamilton, Virginia. Lockwood, who represented the American Missionary Society
at Fortress Monroe, listed in his report the names of 32 couples whom he married
during the month of September 1861.3
While Howards order was explicit in regards to freedmens marriages, Assistant
Commissioners and lower-level Bureau officials did not by any means execute his
order in a consistent manner. This is quite evident in the kind of information collected and the considerable variation in the number of marriage records that exist for
each state. In Alabama, for instance, Assistant Commissioner Wager Swayne, who
favored remarriage of individuals who lived together without licenses, ordered his
officers to solemnize no marriage unless the probate judge of the county where the
female lived had denied application. After the Alabama state convention adopted a
measure validating the unions of former slaves who had lived as man and wife,
Swayne advised freedmen of the new rules and offered no additional instructions
about freedmen marriages.4 With the exception of one marriage license/certificate
found among the files of the Office of the Commissioner, there is no evidence in
Bureau records that indicates officers in Alabama registered or issued licenses and
certificates in the state.
On June 24, 1865, John W. Sprague, Assistant Commissioner for Arkansas, whose
jurisdiction covered both the States of Arkansas and Missouri (June 1865 until
January 1866), issued Circular Number 3 instructing his subordinates to keep and
preserve a record of marriages of freed people, and by whom the ceremony was
performed. Less than a month after his order, Sprague and his subordinates began
forwarding monthly reports of marriages for both Arkansas and Missouri to the
Office of the Commissioner in Washington, DC. Reports for Missouri, however,
contain less information than those for Arkansas. The Missouri reports generally
3

See microfilm roll 5 in this series, Office of the Commissioner, Virginia, Reports of
Marriages.
4
Elaine C. Everly, Marriage Registers of Freedmen, Prologue: The Journal of the
National Archives (Fall 1973): 150, 152; Headquarters, Assistant Commissioner for
Alabama, Circular 1, September 7, 1865, vol. 16 (Alabama), Record Group (RG) 105,
NARA.

provide the names and ages of the couple, dates of marriage, where married and by
whom, and the number of male and female children. On the other hand, Arkansas
reports included such additional information as the couples color and place of
residence, the color of the couples parents, the number of years the couple lived
with another person, how separated, number of children by previous marriage, and
names of witnesses and minister or official who performed the marriage. While
Arkansas officers registered marriages for both Arkansas and Missouri, there is only
one register of marriages in the records of the Missouri office of the disbursing
officer (Cape Girardeau). For the Arkansas subdistrict field offices, however, there
are marriage registers and certificates for the subdistricts at Arkadelphia, Dardanelle,
Fort Smith, Hamburg, Jacksonport, Little Rock, Madison, Osceola, Pine Bluff, and
Washington. There is no evidence in Bureau files that the Assistant Commissioner
for Arkansas or his subordinate field officers issued marriage certificates to
freedmen in Missouri.
Reverend John Kimball, who served as the superintendent of marriages for the
District of Columbia, advised freedmen of the Act of Congress of July 25, 1866
(14 Stat. 236), which stipulated that all persons who recognized each other as man
and wife prior to the act were now legally married. Superintendent Kimball and his
assistants issued marriage licenses and certificates and forwarded them along with
marriage reports through the District of Columbia Office of the Assistant
Commissioner to the Office of the Commissioner. Kimball also registered couples
and forwarded ministers reports of marriages that remained with the Assistant
Commissioner. In addition to the reports received from Kimball, the Assistant
Commissioner also received reports from other officers regarding marriage laws
in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. In the records of the District
of Columbia subassistant commissioner is a register of freedmen at Camp Barker
a contraband camp operated by the Military District of Washington during the
Civil Warthat includes a register of arrivals, deaths, and marriages for the camp.
Like other pre-Bureau records, the register was probably given to the Bureau
by the War Department when it took over duties formerly assigned to wartime
superintendents of freedmen.
As in Alabama, Bureau officials in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas
informed freedmen about the laws relating to marriage for each respective state.5
However, with the exception of an undated report of marriages and marriage
licenses and certificates found in the records of the Office of the Commissioner for
Florida, there is no evidence among Bureau files that indicate officials in Florida
registered freedmen marriages. Neither is there evidence in the Bureaus records
indicating officers in Georgia and Texas registered marriages or issued licenses and
certificates. The records of the North Carolina Office of the Assistant Commissioner
however, contain reports of marriages (National Archives Microfilm Publication
M843, Roll 38), and in the files of the Subdistrict Field Office at Fayetteville there
are two lists of births, marriages, and deaths. (These records have not been filmed

See Laws of Southern States, In relation to freedmen, 186566, Entry 49, Miscellaneous
Records, 186571, Records of the Commissioners, RG 105, NARA.

yet.) There is no evidence of other North Carolina marriage records among Bureau
files.
Bureau officials in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee were ordered to follow the
laws for each state in regard to freedmen marriages. They were also told to issue
licenses if local officials refused to do so. In Kentucky, Bureau officers were
instructed to license black preachers to solemnize marriages. Freedmen couples
were encouraged to submit their cases to the Bureau for examination, and a decision
concerning the issuing of a marriage certificate would be decided upon on a case-bycase basis.6 Bureau officers in each state, however, issued marriage licenses and
certificates and registered freedmen marriages. For Kentucky, there is a single
marriage license and a marriage certificate in the records of the Office of the
Commissioner. However, in the records of the Kentucky Subdistrict Field Office
there are marriage licenses and certificates and registers for the subdistricts of
Augusta, Bowling Green, Columbus, Cynthiana, Saint Sterling, Owensboro,
Paduchah, and Winchester. There is a relatively large quantity of marriage
certificates containing similar information for both Louisiana and Tennessee in
the records of the Office of the Commissioner. The records include the names and
ages of couples, their color and the color of their parents, the number of years both
the husband and wife lived with another person, the reason for separation, the
number of children together and from previous marriages, and other marriagerelated data. In the Louisiana Subdistrict Field Office there are registers of marriages
for the subdistricts at the Gragg Home Colony, Donaldsonville, Mansfield, and
Shreveport. At the Tennessee Office of the Assistant Commissioner are marriage
licenses, and for the Tennessee Subdistrict Field Office there are marriage registers
for the subdistricts at Lebanon, Memphis, and Trenton.
Although a March 22, 1867, act of the Maryland General Assembly validated
freedmen marriages, there is no evidence in Bureau files that the Assistant
Commissioner for Maryland advised freedmen of the law. Neither is there evidence
that the Assistant Commissioner acted upon Commissioner Howards May 1865
order regarding freedmen marriages. There were no subordinate officers responsible
to the Assistant Commissioner except those officers in the Shenandoah Division.
This division consisted of six counties in Virginia and two in West Virginia (May
September 1866). At various times, Maryland was under the jurisdiction of the
Assistant Commissioner for the District of Columbia. Most of the registrants that
appear in the marriage registers for the superintendent of marriages for the District
of Columbia (November 1866July 1867) had moved to the District of Columbia
from Maryland and Virginia. In January 1867, Marylands jurisdiction was
expanded to include Delaware. The marriage records found in the files of the Office
of the Commissioner for Delaware, all appear to relate to proof of marriage in claims
filed with the claims division of the Freedmens Bureau. One affidavit among the
Delaware files concerns a marriage that was performed in Delaware County,
Pennsylvania. There is no evidence in Maryland Bureau files that indicated officials
there issued marriage license and certificates or reported marriages for Delaware.

Everly, Marriage Registers of Freedmen, p. 153.

In Mississippi, Bureau officials were very active in documenting and solemnizing

the marriages of freedmen. In a circular issued July 3, 1865 (Circular Number 1),
Assistant Commissioner for Mississippi Samuel Thomas authorized his officers to
keep a record of marriages of persons of color and gave instructions on how to
maintain marriage registers. Like those for Louisiana and Tennessee, the marriage
certificates for Mississippi forwarded to the Office of the Commissioner provide
such information as the color of persons marrying and the complexion of parents.
Also included is data about the number of years the couple lived with another
person, how they were separated, and the number of children by a previous
connection. There are four marriage registers for the Mississippi Office of the
Assistant Commissioner that provide similar information. The registers for Davis
Bend, Vicksburg, and Natchez, Mississippi, document the registration of more than
4,600 freedmen from Mississippi and northern Louisiana. Over half of the soldiers
registering marriages for Natchez were members of the 6th Mississippi Heavy
Artillery of the U.S. Colored Troops. Nearly all of the soldiers registering marriages
for Davis Bend served with the 64th Colored Infantry.7 The Mississippi subdistrict
field office also registered freedmen marriages and issued licenses and certificates
in the subdistricts of Brookhaven, Columbus, Davis Bend, Goodman, Grenada,
Jackson, and Pass Christian.
In South Carolina, Assistant Commissioner Rufus Saxton issued marriage rules
under General Order Number 8 (August 11, 1865). Declaring that the sacred
institution of Marriage lies at the very foundation of all civil society, Saxton
outlined the duties of married couples and who was eligible to marry and to perform
the ceremonies. These marriage rules also applied to Florida and Georgia, which
were under the jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioner for South Carolina at the
time they were issued. Bvt. Gen. Robert K. Scott, who, in January 1866, succeeded
Saxton as Assistant Commissioner, appointed a superintendent to provide guidance
to freedmen on the responsibilities of marriage.8 However, with the exception of a
single marriage certificate found in the records of the Office of the Commissioner,
and the marriage rules in the files of the South Carolina Office of the Assistant
Commissioner, there is no evidence that South Carolina Bureau officials actively
registered or issued marriage licenses or certificates to freedmen.
In a circular dated March 19, 1866 (Circular Number 11), Assistant Commissioner
for Virginia, Col. Orlando Brown, ordered his subordinates to register the names of
freedmen who were cohabiting together as man and wife and to take pains to
explain to colored persons . . . that they are firmly married by the operation of the
law. As the basis for his order, Brown cited two February 27, 1866, acts of the
7

For a discussion of Mississippi marriage registers, see Herbert G. Gutman, The Black
Family in Slavery and Freedom, 17901925 (1976), pp. 1824. The Mississippi marriage
registers are reproduced on NARA Microfilm Publication M826, Roll 42. Compiled service
records for the 6th Mississippi Heavy Artillery, USCT, have been reproduced on M1818,
rolls 109133.
8
Everly, Marriage Registers of Freedmen, pp. 15253; Headquarters, Assistant Commissioner for South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, General Orders Number 8, August 11, 1865,
RG 105, NARA. The marriage rules, filed with Unbound Miscellaneous Records, 1865
68, have been reproduced in M869, roll 44.

Virginia General Assembly that made provisions for issuing marriage licenses and
the registration and legalization of marriage relations entered into by freedmen
during slavery. Brown forwarded reports of marriages to Office of the Commissioner that contained the names and ages of couples, place of residence and birth,
names of parents, and occupation. Most of the couples named in the reports were
either born or resided in Gloucester County, Virginia. In response to Browns order,
officers in the Virginia Subdistrict Field Office registered marriages for the subdistricts of Goochland, Lexington, Louisa Courthouse, and Lovington. The information found in the files for these five subdistricts, for the most part, reveals that a
significant number of the registrants were farm laborers and field hands and many
had lived in long-standing marriages.
While the issuing of marriage licenses and certificates and registering freedmen
marriages represented a small fraction of the Freedmens Bureaus efforts to assist
former slaves, the surviving marriage records of the Bureaualthough fragmented
document freedmens desire to legalize monogamous relations that for some
spanned several decades. They reveal the Federal Governments efforts to help
freedmen validate the bonds of matrimony, a process denied to them as slaves. The
Freedmens Bureau marriage records, despite their shortcomings, are some of the
most important records for the study of black family marital relations before and
after the Civil War.

RECORDS DESCRIPTION
The records reproduced in this microfilm publication are arranged, for the most part,
alphabetically by the state in which the marriage was performed. The number of
marriage certificates for each state varies and they are arranged generally alphabetically by initial letter of surname of the bridegroom. There are several hundred
certificates for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee and smaller amounts for
Alabama (one marriage license), Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, South
Carolina, and the District of Columbia. In addition to marriage certificates, the
records include marriage licenses and other proofs of marriage. The records contain
monthly reports of marriages for the States of Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Virginia,
and for the District of Columbia.
Most of the records are dated 186566, however some of the marriage certificates
and reports of marriages have earlier dates that reflect the efforts of Union Army
clergy and others to solemnize freedmen marriages during the Civil War. One
marriage certificate that was submitted to the Claims Division of the Freedmens
Bureau as proof of marriage in a claim for additional bounty payments is dated
February 7, 1850. It appears that the series of records reproduced in this microfilm
publication were created or brought together by the Adjutant Generals office after
the Freedmens Bureau was abolished.

Office of the Commissioner

ALABAMA

The single unbound marriage license of Abslum Susk and Martha Culbert is dated
June 20, 1865.
ARKANSAS

Unbound monthly reports of marriages for the subdistricts of Arkadelphia, Ashley,

Devalls Bluff, Helena, dated July 1865September 1866, are arranged chronologically. The reports generally provide the name of the bride and bridegroom, their
ages, dates of marriage, officiating minister, and remarks. A report from the
subdistrict of Arkadelphia provides additional information, such as the place of
residence, complexion of mother and father, number of years living with another
women, reason for separation, number of children by previous marriage, and number
of children together.
DELAWARE

Unbound copy of an affidavit certifying the marriage of James Blake and Catherine
White is dated October 9, 1867. The marriage was performed in Delaware County,
Pennsylvania, at the First Presbyterian Church on February 23, 1865. It appears that
the document was submitted to the claims division of the Freedmens Bureau as
proof of marriage.
Unbound copy of an affidavit certifying the marriage of William Dunnsmore and
Julia Mc Dewitt on October 9, 1859, is dated February 29, 1867. The information
was copied from a marriage register of the Saint Peters Church in New Castle,
Delaware.
Unbound marriage certificate of John Martin and Sarah Jane Booth is dated
February 7, 1850. There is also a copy of a record relating to the marriage dated
April 11, 1870, and a related U.S. Treasury Department letter dated April 5, 1870.
The documents appear to relate to a claim of Sarah J. Martin filed with the claims
division of the Freedmens Bureau for additional bounty.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Unbound reports of marriages, 186668, are arranged in rough chronological order.

Unbound marriage licenses and certificates arranged alphabetically by the initial
letter of the surname of the bridegroom cover the period 1865 and 186669.
FLORIDA

The single unbound report of marriages is undated and unarranged. Unbound

marriage licenses and certificates arranged generally alphabetically by initial letter
of the surname of the bridegroom cover the period 186468.
KENTUCKY

The single unbound marriage certificate of Charles Anderson and Sarah Walker is
dated January 23, 1865.

The single unbound marriage license of Ben Laughlin and Alice Veeney is dated
January 8, 1867.
LOUISIANA

Unbound marriage certificates arranged alphabetically by initial letter of the

surname of the bridegroom cover the period 186465. Most of the certificates
contain the name and ages of the bride (in some cases the maiden name) and
bridegroom. The records also include their color, and place of residence and color
of the bride and bridegrooms mother and father. In addition there is information
concerning the number of years the bridegroom and bride lived with another man
or woman, how they were separated, the number of children they have together, the
number of children by previous connection, and names of witnesses and minister or
official who performed the marriage.
MISSISSIPPI

Unbound marriage certificates arranged alphabetically by initial letter of the

surname of the bridegroom cover the period 186466. The Mississippi marriage
certificates can contain information similar to that found in the records for
Louisiana. Included are the names and ages of the bride and bridegroom and their
color and place of residence. Also included is information about the color of the
bride and bridegrooms mother and father, the number of years that the couple
lived with another man or woman, and how they were separated. The records also
document the number of children the couple have together, the number of children
by previous connection, and names of witnesses and minister or official who
performed the marriage.
MISSOURI

Unbound monthly reports of marriages, July 1865August 1865, are arranged

chronologically. The reports provide the names and ages of the couple, dates of
marriage, where married and by whom, and the number of male and female children.
The single unbound report of the marriage of George Washington and Lizzie Arthur
is dated August 17, 1865.
SOUTH CAROLINA

The single unbound marriage certificate of Benjamin Low and Hayer Jenkins is
dated September 30, 1865.
TENNESSEE

Unbound marriage certificates arranged by the initial letter of the surname of the
bridegroom cover the period 186366. The certificates can contain the same kinds
of information found in the marriage certificates for Louisiana and Mississippi. The
records provide the names and ages of the bride and bridegroom, their color and
place of residence, and the color of the couples mother and father. Also recorded
are the number of years the bridegroom and bride lived with another man or woman
and how they where separated. The number of children, the number of children by
previous connection, and names of witnesses and minister or official who performed

the marriage is documented as well. Some Tennessee marriage certificates also

include the names and ages of children and their dates of birth.
VIRGINIA

Unbound reports of marriages arranged by the initial letter of the surname of the
bridegroom are undated. The reports, in most cases, contain the names and ages
of the couples, place of residence, names of parents, and occupation. Among the
records is a list of marriages performed by Rev. L. C. Lockwood at Camp Hamilton,
Virginia (near Hampton, VA), during the month of September 1861.

RELATED RECORDS
In the same record group, RG 105, and related to the marriage records of the Office
of the Commissioner, are marriage records of various Offices of Assistant
Commissioners and subordinate field offices of the Freedmens Bureau. Most
of these records have not been microfilmed as of this date and are only available for
research at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. They will be microfilmed in forthcoming publications, however, as part of the overall effort to film
previously unfilmed records of the Freedmens Bureau. Consult future editions of
the National Archives guide, Microfilm Resources for Research: A Comprehensive
Catalog, for those additional microfilm publications.
The marriage records for these field offices have been described in a three-part
unpublished inventory entitled Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Field
Offices of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. The inventory
descriptions of the records are arranged alphabetically by state and thereunder by
offices, and thereunder alphabetically by county, town, or village. Part One
describes the records of the Bureau offices in Alabama, Arkansas, the District
of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Part Two includes
descriptions for offices in Maryland and Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, North
Carolina, and South Carolina. Part Three covers offices in Tennessee, Texas, and
Virginia.
However, marriage records from the Office of the Assistant Commissioner for both
Mississippi and North Carolina are on the following National Archives microfilm
publications:
M826, Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Mississippi,
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 18651869
(Roll 42 contains four volumes of registers of marriages.)
M843, Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of North
Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands,
18651870
(Roll 38 contains a few reports of marriages received by the Assistant
Commissioner.)

10

In addition, the following two microfilm series contain the records of the Bureau
headquarters in Washington, DC:
M742, Selected Series of Records Issued by the Commissioner of the
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 18651872
M752, Registers and Letters Received by the Commissioner of the
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 18651872
Records in other record groups supplement those of the Office of the Commissioner
and Assistant Commissioners and subordinate field offices. In Records of the United
States Army Continental Commands, 18211920, RG 393, are records of the
military districts that assisted freedmen in a variety of matters prior to the establishment of the Freedmens Bureau, including the legalization of marriages. Records
relating to employment and welfare of freedmen and abandoned property before the
establishment of the Bureau are among the Records of Civil War Special Agencies
of the Treasury Department, RG 366. The records of the Freedmans Savings and
Trust Company, 18651874, in Records of the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency, RG 101, can contain information relating to freedmen couples who
maintained accounts with local branches of the bank.
There have been numerous books, articles, and dissertations published about the
Freedmens Bureau and its operations. For general background, see Paul S. Pierce,
The Freedmens Bureau, A Chapter in the History of Reconstruction (Iowa City, IA:
1904), and George R. Bentley, A History of the Freedmens Bureau (New York:
reprint, 1974). For books and articles that discuss the Freedmens Bureau marriage
records, see John W. Blassingame, The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the
Antebellum South (New York: 1979); Herbert G. Gutman, The Black Family in
Slavery and Freedom, 17501925 (New York: 1976); Ira Berlin and Leslie S.
Rowland, editors, Families and Freedom: A Documentary History of AfricanAmerican Kinship in the Civil War Era (New York: 1997), especially pages
15591; and Elaine C. Everly, Marriage Registers of Freedmen, Prologue:
The Journal of the National Archives (Fall 1973): 15054.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The marriage records in this microfilm publication were prepared for filming by
the Civil War Conservation Corps (CWCC) at the National Archives Building,
Washington, DC, under the direction of Russ and Budge Weidman. Reginald
Washington wrote the introductory remarks, and Elaine Everlys, Marriage
Registers of Freedmen (Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives, Fall
1973), formed the basis for much of the discussion of the Freedmens Bureau
and its marriage records.
This microfilm publication was produced through a cooperative arrangement
between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States
Congress, through The Freedmens Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000
(Public Law 106-444).

11

CONTENTS
ROLL

DESCRIPTION

DATES

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER

Alabama
Marriage License for Abslum Susk
and Martha Culbert

June 20, 1865

Arkansas
Monthly Reports of Marriages

Delaware
Affidavit certifying the marriage of
James Blake and Catherine White
(Married February 23, 1865)

October 12, 1867

Affidavit certifying the marriage of

William Dunnsmore and Julia Mc Dewitt
(Married October 9, 1859)

February 29, 1867

Marriage Certificate for John Martin and

Sarah Booth

February 7, 1850

District of Columbia
Reports of Marriages
Marriage Licenses and Certificates

18661868
1865, 18661868

Florida
Report of Marriages
Marriage Licenses and Certificates

Undated
18641868

Kentucky
Marriage certificate for Charles Anderson
and Sarah Walker

January 23, 1865

Marriage License for Ben Laughlin

and Alice Veeney

July 1865
September 1866

January 8, 1867

Louisiana
Marriage Certificates
AY

18641867

Mississippi
Marriage Certificates
AQ

18641866

12

Mississippi
Marriage Certificates
RY

18641866

Missouri
Monthly Reports of Marriages

July 1865August 1865

Report of Marriage of George

Washington and Lizzie Arthur

August 17, 1865

South Carolina
Marriage Certificate for Benjamin
Low and Hayer Jenkins

September 30, 1865

Tennessee

Marriage Certificates
AE

18631866

Marriage Certificates
FO

18641866

Marriage Certificates
PY

18641866

Virginia
Undated reports of Marriages (includes
an October 10, 1861 report of blacks married
by Rev. L. C. Lockwood during the month of
September 1861)

13