West Virginia Couples
Who Married
in
Greene County, Pennsylvania
"Some important info for those who may not know this. The reason so many people from Monongalia, Wetzel & Marshall Counties went over to Greene County to get married (this is all prior to the year of 1885) was because there was no Law requiring a Marriage License to get married there (prior to 1885)...
Thousands of marriages took place there from the early 1800's right up to the year of 1885 simply because if you lived in the Western end of Monongalia County, or the Central & Eastern part of Wetzel County, or the Eastern part of Marshall Count, it was a 'heck' of a lot easier to just go over the Greene County Border just to get married, then it was to take a 1 or 2 day trip to the respective Court Houses in Morgantown, New Martinsville and Moundsville to get a marriage License, as no waiting period, or no Marriage License was needed to get married in Greene County any place just along the Border, and all that was needed was a Justice of the Peace or a Preacher to marry you there and it was a "Legal Marriage"... The large number of marriages performed prior to 1885 was NOT recorded in the Court System and the only records of these marriages was put in the Docket Books of the J. P.'s and the Records kept by some of the Preachers and most of those Books are no longer existent and was not recorded by the official Court Records... That's one reason many people can't never find a marriage record of their WV Ancestors who went over the Border to get married and there are no records of them found... In 1885, was when they first started to issue Marriage License's in Greene County and it put a big slow-down on the large number of people from the adjoining 3 WV Counties as to going there to get married just over the Border as it was a lot easier and quicker to do that... I'm sure that many people are not aware of this situation and I would like for the ones who are not aware of this to be informed. "
(Source: Information from Historian and Genealogist Lloyd Roupe - April 27, 2015)
(Used by permission of Lloyd Roupe to Richard E. Henthorn on Facebook, 24 Jul 2019)
"Some important info for those who may not know this. The reason so many people from Monongalia, Wetzel & Marshall Counties went over to Greene County to get married (this is all prior to the year of 1885) was because there was no Law requiring a Marriage License to get married there (prior to 1885)...
Thousands of marriages took place there from the early 1800's right up to the year of 1885 simply because if you lived in the Western end of Monongalia County, or the Central & Eastern part of Wetzel County, or the Eastern part of Marshall Count, it was a 'heck' of a lot easier to just go over the Greene County Border just to get married, then it was to take a 1 or 2 day trip to the respective Court Houses in Morgantown, New Martinsville and Moundsville to get a marriage License, as no waiting period, or no Marriage License was needed to get married in Greene County any place just along the Border, and all that was needed was a Justice of the Peace or a Preacher to marry you there and it was a "Legal Marriage"... The large number of marriages performed prior to 1885 was NOT recorded in the Court System and the only records of these marriages was put in the Docket Books of the J. P.'s and the Records kept by some of the Preachers and most of those Books are no longer existent and was not recorded by the official Court Records... That's one reason many people can't never find a marriage record of their WV Ancestors who went over the Border to get married and there are no records of them found... In 1885, was when they first started to issue Marriage License's in Greene County and it put a big slow-down on the large number of people from the adjoining 3 WV Counties as to going there to get married just over the Border as it was a lot easier and quicker to do that... I'm sure that many people are not aware of this situation and I would like for the ones who are not aware of this to be informed. "
(Source: Information from Historian and Genealogist Lloyd Roupe - April 27, 2015)
(Used by permission of Lloyd Roupe to Richard E. Henthorn on Facebook, 24 Jul 2019)
