Free Online California Marriage Records and Indexes

One of the main goals for genealogists is finding marriage information about their ancestors.

Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists, a great number of indexes to marriage collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific marriage license, bond, and certificate information, and sometimes scanned images of the actual marriage documents themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.

There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include marriage information that is not included in the lists below. These different types can be found in 27 Ways to Find Ancestor Marriage Information.

The lists below are specific marriage indexes and record collections that are available for free online for the state of California.

Note: Some of the links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage, please make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.

Note: I have included links to Free Ancestry records and indexes. You do not need a subscription but do need an Ancestry account. Without a subscription, you can view indexes. If there is an image associated with a record, in most cases you will need a subscription, but the index does include very usable information.

(Updated April 2023)

California Marriage Records

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

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California Marriage Records

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