Death Records Now

Have you target searched online, for Marriage records Michigan………..I am not researching in the US but lots of websites come up such as this http://recordsproject.com/marriage/michigan.asp

Certainly familysearch is a worthy resource BUT it isn’t exactly verified information…I don’t have an ancestry.com account and wouldn’t have one as the vast majority of the info they have can be accessed free online elsewhere as long as you are prepared to research…………..

What you could do is find your local records office/family history centre and ask for them to order the parish record fiche for where you are looking,……… it costs very little, once ordered it stays there for you to view free any time you wish and with luck it will give you the marriage, earlier baptism and possibly siblings information as well……………………………….you need to check every transcription you find online where ever it is from back to real records anyway before you can trust it……….it is certainly cheaper option for you and may then give you lots more information as well as verifying other records in the area
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First, Maxi do take a look at the NEW Family Search. They now have millions of public records from all over the world online for free. From experience, their transcribers seem to do a better job than is often done on Ancestry. https://www.familysearch.org/

Also check the Michigan records available on USGenWeb. Look at the vital records on the state site and then on the county where they were married
http://www.migenweb.net/

Another possible option is to look for people who have volunteered to do free record searches. Sometimes they can be found on USGenWeb and Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. Also contact the local Genealogical Society because birth records were frequently kept at the county level. Most states only wait 70 years to release records. Sounds like their local genealogists need to do a little high level lobbying.

Then if it were me, I would spring for the $15 first. Request an actual copy of the record but be aware that records don’t always contain the parent’s names.

ADD Family Search as Michigan, County Marriages, 1820-1935
Description
Images of marriage registers and certificates from county records. This collection does not include the following counties: Alger, Alpena, Barry, Eaton, Gladwin, Kalkaska, Kent, Lenawee, Missaukee, Monroe, Montmorency, Oceana, Oscoda, Schoolcraft, and Shiawassee.
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I would have ancestry.com if I could afford it..but trust me, I find tons of stuff from alternate sources. Something is very fishy on "has to be dead 150 yrs before you can get a birth certificate". Someone who died in the mid 1800s is not going to have either a death cert OR a birth cert. I am not surprised that the marriage record doesn’t have parents names.. most don’t. If that is your reason, I would not worry so much. Depending on the SOURCE GIVEN (for what you found online) that is a judgement call on accepting/ not accepting the data.
Since you have a marriage date, then the persons should show up in the census with parents, prior to the marriage.
Have you tried the county genweb page? or subscribed to a county based email list (see rootsweb.com for mailing lists). That is a way to zero in on what the county has, and how to get it.
I love original copies…but I don’t automatically come to a screeching halt without it.

edit
actually, what I say here, is generic. I forgot to add my normal disclaimer… IF YOU POST THE NAMES/ DATES/ LOCALITIES, and let us run through it..we may have a better solution, or find something you didn’t know of. IE, a website, etc.
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> my worthless ancestry.com subscription…

I routinely start in 1930 and work back to 1850 in the census images. I usually find someone alive in 1850 on 2/3rd to 3/4ths of the lines I’m working on. That’s worthwhile, to me. I may be more experienced than you. You are probably as smart as I am, and almost certainly sing better.

http://www.tedpack.org/hunting_edes.html
is "A riviting tale of tracking people down on the 1850 – 1930 censuses. I use the Ede family as an example for other genealogists".

Here are the first four paragraphs:

I once took a class in Biology of the Sierra Nevada. During a lecture about the fish who live in its lakes and streams, our professor told us that only 3% of all hatchery trout live for more than a year after they are released into the wild. Fisherman catch some; bears, raccoons, otters, martins, eagles and ospreys eat others, and the rest don’t have the survival instincts of their native cousins, so they die during the winter. He added that the trout stamps we Californians buy for our fishing licenses pay for the entire hatchery and planting program; indeed, that particular division of the Fish and Wildlife Department usually returns a slight surplus. I raised my hand and asked, why, if that was the case, didn’t they just sell the trout by the pound at the hatchery gate, to streamline the process?

There was a pause. The professor looked at me as if I had interrupted a discussion of last year’s World Series to ask why grown men would want to hit small white balls with wooden clubs. "That would take the sport out of it", he said, curtly.

Genealogy is a sport too. I sometimes compare it to fly- fishing. They are both obscure hobbies. We don’t always find the ancestor we’re after; they don’t land a trout with every cast. We try different approaches; they try different flies. This is a detailed description of how I landed an elusive ancestor. There are some lessons here in looking people up on the census.

I started with a woman named Estelle, born about 1906 in Nevada, who married Merle Mensinger in California about 1925. I knew from records that her maiden name was "Ede". It looks like a mis-print, but two of her children’s birth records and her death records all spelled it "Ede". Who were Estelle Ede’s parents?

==========

It goes on for nine examples. You may find it helpful.
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Having read your other question, I’m going to answer parts of both in one place.

I have pretty good experience with Michigan marriage records. First, you need to know that there are different types of "marriage records". This is a generic term for anything that documents a marriage, whether it be a marriage license or certificate issued to the couple, a return book, record book, marriage bond, or register book. Each of these will have different information about the couple. In Michigan each county determines what records they keep and what information will be on them. Some counties have made frequent changes. If you get information from the record about the parents is hit and miss. In Michigan they often have place of residence, but usually do not have place of birth or places associated with the parents.

Since you are looking for a copy, I suspect you have not located the record online, but rather an index or transcription of the record. This source should give you the precise information you need to find the copy they indexed or transcribed from. If it was from Family Search you might be able to take the source code information to a Family History Center and request the microfilm. If it’s from a published genealogy book you can sometimes request an inter-library loan from your local branch library, request a photocopy of the page of interest, or check Google Books.

A few tips about ordering records from public agencies: they will not do research and they will not guess, no matter how logical or obvious. They will look for exactly what you ask them to look for. If the date range you ask for is 1 day off, if a name is spelled 1 letter off, or if your information gives them more than 1 possible record you may get a note back saying the record could not be found. This is why the indexes online are helpful. They *should* be exactly as they appear in the record. In both cases this requires that someone is able to read the handwritten record (i.e. Elmira and Elvira can get confused). When you send away to the agency they will either photocopy the information from their books, or they will transfer the information to a form and this form is considered a copy (although not always certified).

GenWebs do not provide records, they provide a place where people can post information and links to helpful resources. What the GenWeb itself provides is free, but not all of the resources they list will be.
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