Marriage records most often consist of applications and licenses. Applications are considered private and are available only to the subject for up to 100 years (UCA 63-2-202). Licenses, the civil record providing recognition of a marriage, are generally public. Beginning in 1888, an application was filed first. Then the marriage license was filed with the application. These records are the original applications and licenses with original signatures. Information on applications gives family history data: dates and places of birth, number of previous marriages, parents’ names, etc. The license includes names, addresses, and ages of bride and groom; date and number of license; date of marriage; title and signature of person performing the ceremony; and signatures of bride, groom, witnesses, and county clerk. If permission was required for the marriage of minors, that too was recorded. Entries were numbered consecutively from number one beginning in 1887. In 1905, the clerk started over again with number one.

Indexes by bride and groom names are available for 1896-1907. The Western States Marriage Index, maintained online by BYU-Idaho Special Collections indexes marriages from all counties in Utah for various date spans, including most before 1900.

Locating civil marriage records in Utah prior to 1887 can be difficult as historically there wasn’t a legal requirement to record them in any government register. Some early probate judges kept journals or records in which they might have written about the marriages they performed. These can be found at major Utah archives and libraries. One example is a journal of Elias Smith, a probate judge for Salt Lake County between 1852 and 1882. Journal of Elias Smith of Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949. (FHL films 00424-25; computer number 386505) Applications and licenses for marriages first issued by the clerk of the probate court then by the county clerk after the probate court was dissolved.