Found missing names of bride and groom, HUGHES & CONLEY, 1912 Marriage
While visiting the Genealogical Forum of Oregon Library (GFO), in Portland, Oregon, I became intrigued by something I heard a person say. She was working on the project of indexing Multnomah County Marriage Record books and had the Marriage Record book #32 for the period of 1912. She said she had just found a record that didn't have the name of either the bride or the groom. This raised two questions. First, how do we find the missing names? And second, if we find the names, do we list them in the index project even though they were not in this marriage record?
I went to look at the record Marie was talking about. All the other information about the marriage was filled in. It had the license number and date, the date and place of the marriage, the marriage was performed by a Catholic Priest, and his name was listed. The marriage was performed at "St Johns Pars." on 26 September 1912. It listed the groom as living in Clackamas County and the bride as living in Multnomah County. The names of the two witnesses were listed, the date the record was filed with the county, and the names of the County Clerk and the Deputy. But, the names of the bride and groom were not on the record.
GFO has more than one type of original book, from Multnomah County, giving information on the County marriages.
1) Marriage License Index with an alphabetical index. These books list names from A-Z, for specific time periods. In 1912, each line shows the name of the bride and groom, and gives the book number and page where they are found in the Marriage Record book.
2) Marriage Affidavits book. This book shows someone who says they know one of the persons getting married, usually the bride, names of both the bride and groom, gives the ages of the couple, or an approximate age, and usually states there is "no legal impediment to the marriage." In Multnomah County, this book is listed in order by the License number.
3) The Marriage Record book. This is where information was posted when the information was returned to the County Clerk to show the marriage had taken place, and gave all the information needed to complete the record on the county books. (This was the book Marie was using for the index she was doing, and it had the marriages listed in order of the License Number..)
4) Marriage Affidavits and Marriage Records. In later years, the Marriage Affidavits and Marriage Records are combined in one book, on the same page, for each marriage.
One of the ways to find the names of the bride and groom would be to look at the Marriage License Index, from A - Z, for the name of a bride or groom, showing the book and page number you needed in the Marriage Record book. You would have to eliminate the names already listed on that page. Although this is one way, it would be very time consuming.
Using the GFO collection of available marriage records, there is an easier and faster way to find the names of the bride and groom. The marriage record Marie found had the Marriage License number 23836 stamped on the record. These numbers are listed in order on the pages. The record above was 23835 and the one below was 23837. The Marriage Affidavits book also lists the marriages in order by the Marriage License number. Knowing this, I went to the Affidavits book for the date range needed, September 1912, looked for the page with License #23836, and found the names of the bride and groom within just a few minutes. The name of the bride was Lillian HUGHES, and the name of the groom was M. J. CONLEY. Another error was found in the Affidavits record. Although it listed the record book number as 32, the page number was listed as 328, not 228. Looking at page 328 would not give the researcher the information they wanted. Since the License numbers were listed in numerical order, the page of 328 on this Affidavit for the CONLEY and HUGHES record could not have been correct. It was 100 pages too high. The book and page number above and below the one for HUGHES and CONLEY had the correct book 32 and page 228, and since the license numbers are listed numerically, page 228 is correct.
The next thing I wanted to find was this marriage listed in the Marriage License Index, and it is a good thing I took the time to look. The groom's name was listed as Martin J. CONLEY. This gave me the first name of the groom, making it easier for a family researcher to locate this couple in additional records, such as census, city directory, newspaper, land, etc. This Index gave the correct book and page number for the Marriage Record book.
Multnomah County Marriage Record book 32, page 228.
Multnomah County Marriage Affidavits book 17, page 79.
Multnomah County Marriage License Index, A - K, July 1910 - Oct. 1915, page 165 for CONLEY, and page 384 for HUGHES.
Each of these record books can provide additional parts of the marriage information, and it is sometimes wise to consult all of them, for any different pieces they may have of your relative.
Additional information about the Catholic priest. The name on the Marriage Record under "Witness my hand," showed the following: "A. Hillebrand Dean, St John's Church." The Marriage Affidavit didn't have "Dean" after Hillebrand, but only listed "Married by A. Hillebrand." Therefore, could this priest have been the "Dean" of a school attached to the church?
I went to Ancestry for the 1910 Oregon Census and found a listing in Oregon City, Clackamas County, for an Anthony HILLEBRAND, a Catholic clergyman, age 51, born in Germany. The address was 912 Water St., between entries of names listed on 9th and 10th streets. There are more than one Catholic church in our area with the name St. John's. I went to the internet and Googled this name. One church of interest was the St. John The Apostle Catholic Church, in Oregon City, Oregon. The church history showed it was active since 1846 and had moved from its original location of 10th and Water streets to its present location at 4th and Center in Oregon City. There was a Parish Church, a School and Administration offices.
1910 Census, Oregon City, Clackamas County, Oregon, E.D. 43, Sheet 10A, line 26, Address 912 Water St., Dwelling 206, Family 212, date 23-25 April. HILLEBRAND, Anthony.
The Affiant listed on the Marriage Affidavits was C. R. HANSEN and his address was listed as 26 N 2nd. At the bottom of the affidavit, on the signature line, the name is signed C. R. HANSEN, Jr. On the Marriage Record, this name looked like C. R. HUNSINGER, and he was listed as a witness to the marriage. Looking at the 1912 Polk's Portland City Directory, page 671, I found the following entries:
HANSEN, Chas R. Jr., pres C. R. Hansen & Co. r Hotel Carlton.
HANSEN, C. R. & Co., Charles R. Hansen Jr., Pres., Employment Agents, 26 2nd N. Tel Main 1526.
I also checked the 1912 Portland City Directory for Lillian HUGHES and Martin J. CONLEY, but couldn’t find a match, when looking for the addresses given in the Marriage Affidavit. The 1914 Portland City directory was the next year available, and I didn’t find this couple listed.
I checked the database of old Oregonian newspapers on the Multnomah County Library website for mention of the marriage of Lillian HUGHES and Martin J. CONLEY, but didn't find any mention of it in September 1912. A search of the newspapers in Oregon City, or the records of the Catholic church may give more information since the marriage was listed as taking place at the church.
There is another record that might be found and be of assistance to anyone looking for the marriage information on Lillian HUGHES and Martin J. CONLEY. The information filled out when the couple applied for their marriage license might be found on microfilm at the State of Oregon Archives in Salem, Oregon. This may or may not be available for records of 1912, but an email to the Archives, or a research trip might prove worth the effort.
As to the question whether or not to include the names of the bride and groom I found in the other marriage books, in the marriage index being created by Marie, it was decided not to include these names. Since they were not recorded in the actual Marriage Record book being indexed, they wouldn't be included in the index.
The marriage records used are for Multnomah County, Oregon, but similar books may also be available in other states and counties.
- - - - - - - - -
Military Information.
The following military records may or may not be the Martin J. CONLEY listed above:
WW I Draft Registration infosrmation of 1917-1918:
Serial Number 140, Order Number 251
Martin Joseph CONLEY living in Pasco, Washington.
Age 38, born 9 July 1880, White, U.S. Citizen, Occupation was Contractor, employed by himself.
Name of wife: Lillian CONLEY, also living in Pasco, Washington.
Local Board for Franklin County, Pasco, Washington, date of Registration 9/9/18
WW II Draft Registration information:
Martin Joseph CONLEY, living in S. E. Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon.
Age 61, born in San Francisco, California 9 July 1880.
Name of wife: Lillian Conley, living at same address.
Multnomah County Local Board #5, date 25 April 1942.
- - - - - - - - -
Possible match in Census records for 1920 and 1930:
1920 in Arlington, Gilliam County, Oregon, E.D. 42, Sheet 2B, Dwelling 46, Family 51, Lines 77-79:
Indexed on Ancestry as: Martin J. COULEY [additional spellings added as possible: Martin J. Conley; Martin J. Coulsy],
Age 39, born in California, wife Lillian M. COULEY, age 37 born in Illinois, son James N. COULEY age 13 born in North Dakota.
(Research Note: The handwriting for the surname could be mistaken for COULEY, or as CONLEY if the top of the letter "n" wasn't so open.)
1930 in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, E.D. 26-319, Sheet 3B, Dwelling # not listed, Family #not listed, Lines 95-97:
Indexed on Ancestry as Martin J. CONLEY, age 49 born in California, wife Lillian M. CONLEY, age 46 born in Illinois, son James N. CONLEY, age 23 born in North Dakota.
(Research Note: based on the age of the son listed in the 1920 and 1930 census records, and the date found for the marriage of Martin and Lillian, in 1912, if this is the same Martin J. CONLEY who married Lillian HUGHES, Martin could have been married to someone else before 1912.)
I hope some of this information has been of interest and can possibly be put to use by someone. And, if someone is checking the internet for anything about the marriage of a Lillian HUGHES and a Martin J. CONLEY, they might find this information helpful.
More Replies:
-
Re: Found missing names of bride and groom, HUGHES & CONLEY, 1912 Marriage
Janice Fenter 11/09/11