Cass
County, N.D. Marriage License Index
Search on-line database
 With the change of status for the Clerk of District Court position in
North Dakota, the handling of marriage licenses in Cass County was transferred
to the Treasurer's Office as of January 1, 2001. The older records, 1870s-July
1944, were transferred to the Institute for Regional Studies at NDSU.
This database was developed by the Institute for Regional Studies staff,
using the original index ledgers and verifying against the actual documents.
It contains data on over 15,000 marriages performed in the county. For
records after July 1944, please contact the Cass County Treasurer, 211
9th Street South, Fargo ND 58103. The North Dakota GenWeb Project has listed the contact information for other pre-1925 North Dakota marrage records on their web site.
The marriage licenses at the Institute for Regional Studies span from
the beginning of the recording of marriages in Cass County in the 1870s
through July 1944. The issuing of marriage licenses was not required
until 1887, although documentation for some earlier marriages was filed
with the county . If a known marriage in Cass County is not found in
the database, likely the only place it is recorded is in the records
of a church or clergyman's papers.
Individual licenses vary as to the type of documents and information
included. The earliest documents are simply written statements by the
clergyman or justice of the peace who performed the marriage. Only later
are there forms that had to be completed and which required additional
data be provided. The names of the parents of the groom and bride were
asked only for several years in the early 1890s.
On a related matter, the Institute for Regional Studies also has the
divorce files for Cass County from the 1880s to 1942. Many of these
include court testimony and all legal documents associated with the
case. To search for a divorce case, we need the names of the persons
involved and an approximate date of the divorce. Copy charges are based
upon the number of pages in the case file.
Ordering
copies
The
Cass County marriage licenses are open for public use in the research
room of the Institute for Regional Studies. Photocopying is available.
Mail and e-mail photocopy requests are also available at a charge of
$5.00 per marriage license, which includes a copy of the license and
any supporting documents found in the file. Mail and e-mail requests
should include the license number and names of the bride and groom.
For e-mail requests please be sure to include your postal address and your birthdate (used to set up your account). Prepayment
is not required, rather a university billing will be sent with the copies. You
may obtain copies of marriage records found in the index by contacting
the Institute via e-mail (archives@www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu)
or regular mail.
Update
history
Database
mounted April 2002
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