Three indexes on Socorro County Marriages, 1885-1913

On Thursday, I blogged about Family Search's (relatively) new collection of databases on New Mexico County Marriages, 1885-1954 (LINK.) This collection is of marriages recorded in the Sandoval, Socorro and Valencia county courthouses. These are actual images of entries and certificates.

Yesterday, I received a request from a friend asking if I could find a marriage record for her grandparents. She knew her grandparents had been married in Magdalena (Socorro County), but she was unsure of the date. She thought that they may have been married in 1910. I found their marriage record in January 1908. The record did not included their parents names (she already had them), but it did include their birthdates. Now any good genealogist will tell you that a birthdate mentioned in a marriage record is not a primary source - primary sources are created soon after the event occurs, and marriages take place many years after a person's birth - but it is at least a good "clue" to the actual birthdate of a person, if not the actual birthdate itself. I would suggest searching for a baptismal record or a birth certificate (if it exists) for that person to confirm birthdates.

I was able to find this record only because I was able to find a second index in one of the databases. Socorro County Marriages 1885-1913, Vols. 1-3 actually has THREE indexes, as it has three volumes (LINK.) The indexes are somewhat in alphabetical order, as in they are categorized by first letter. However, since they were indexed at the same time that the entries were made, the alphabetical order within the letter groupings is mixed up. It's easy enough to read through, though, as their is usually not more than one letter group per image.

* Volume One - The index is on images 6 through 31. The entries begin on image 32.
* Volume Two - The index is on images 181 through 195. The entries begin immediately on image 195.
* Volume Three - The index is on images 467 through 490. The entries begin on image 491.

It's important to realize that the index are for page numbers and NOT image numbers. The pages are on the top of the images, and there are usually two pages per image. You'll have to browse through the database to find the exact page you are looking for.

Happy Hunting!