I Do -- Marriage Record Research - Tracing Lines by Ruby Coleman (October 2004): "Marriage records are inconsistent from one county to another and from one state to another. At various times periods they were recorded in different formats and according to laws that are no longer in existence. During the colonial era many couples were married by circuit riding preachers who did not keep track of their marriages, baptisms and burials. In some cases, couples went ahead and lived together as man and wife until they could be officially married.
Some of the words that you will encounter in research of marriage records are the following: se URL"