More Than a Marriage License – The Marriage of William C. Odle and Lura Briggs

One of the pleasures of genealogy is discovering that there is often more than one record documenting the same event. A marriage license may provide the basic facts, but county clerks sometimes preserved additional records that contain details unavailable anywhere else.

Several years ago, I wrote to the Warren County Clerk in Warren County, Indiana, requesting copies of the marriage records for my relatives William C. Odle and Lura Briggs. Along with the expected marriage license and return, the clerk also photocopied pages from the county’s marriage register—a large journal that recorded information from the marriage application across several pages.

Those additional pages turned a routine marriage record into a much richer genealogical resource.

Marriage License

The marriage license records that William C. Odle and Lura Briggs were licensed to marry on 19 October 1905 in Warren County, Indiana.

Transcription

William C. Odle
to
Lura Briggs

Indiana, To-wit: Warren County, ss:

Be it Remembered, That on this 19 day of Oct. 1905, the following Marriage License was issued, to-wit:

TO ALL WHO SHALL SEE THESE PRESENTS, GREETING:

KNOW YE, that any person legally authorized to solemnize matrimony is hereby licensed to join in marriage as Husband and Wife William C. Odle and Lura Briggs, and for so doing this shall be his sufficient authority.

In Testimony Whereof, I, Ernest Gray, Clerk of the Warren Circuit Court, hereunto subscribe my name and affix the seal of said Court, this 19 day of Oct., A.D. 1905.

Ernest Gray, Clerk

By H. O. Johnson, Deputy.

Be It Further Remembered, That on this 20 day of Oct., 1905, the following Certificate was filed in my office, to-wit:

Indiana, To-wit: Warren County:

This Certifies, that I joined in Marriage, as Husband and Wife William C. Odle and Lura Briggs on the 19 day of Oct., A.D. 1905.

Rev. A. C. Weaver, Evangelist

The County Marriage Register

The marriage register preserved far more information than appears on the license itself. Because the information was recorded in a large ledger that spread across multiple pages, the clerk photocopied each section containing the Odle-Briggs entry.

Together, those pages reveal the following information:

Groom

Name: William C. Odle
Residence: Williamsport, Warren County, Indiana
Age Next Birthday: 20
Color: White
Occupation: Printer
Place of Birth: Warren County, Indiana
Father: David Odle
Mother’s Maiden Name: Lillie B. Evans
Number of Marriages: First

Bride

Name: Laura K. Briggs
(The marriage license records her name as Lura Briggs, while the register records Laura K. Briggs.)
Residence: Williamsport, Warren County, Indiana
Age Next Birthday: 31
Color: White
Place of Birth: Warren County, Indiana
Father: Elisha V. Briggs
Mother’s Maiden Name: Mary E. Crawford
Number of Marriages: First

Marriage

Place: Williamsport, Indiana
Date: 19 October 1905

Why This Matters

If I had relied only on the marriage license, I would have known when and where William and Lura married. The marriage register, however, provided an entirely different level of detail.

It identifies both sets of parents, including the maiden names of each mother—information that can help extend family lines another generation. It also records each person’s birthplace, residence, occupation, ages, and confirms that this was the first marriage for both bride and groom.

One detail especially caught my attention. William’s age at his next birthday was 20, while Lura’s was 31, revealing an age difference of about eleven years. Without the register, that fact would have been easy to overlook.

A Friday Find

This is a reminder that when requesting records from a county courthouse, it never hurts to ask whether additional marriage books or application registers survive alongside the marriage license. Clerks often maintained separate volumes that captured information not found in the license or certificate.

In this case, a simple request to the Warren County Clerk yielded not just a marriage license, but a much fuller picture of William C. Odle and Lura Briggs as they began their married life in October 1905. It is exactly the kind of unexpected discovery that makes for a satisfying Friday Find.