How to Cite a Marriage Record Found in Probate

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Q. I’ve found a marriage record on FamilySearch in the collection Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013. The document is on page 212 of a marriage record book from the Miami County probate court. How do I cite the source and repository in my genealogy program?

A. Experts favor different styles, but FamilySearch has some suggestions. The most formal approach would be to list the county office first as the author, then the record title and page number, and finally the online collection where you accessed it. For example:

Miami County (Ohio). Probate Judge, “Marriage Affidavits, 1860-1885,” 212, accessed 6 September 2016 via FamilySearch (Ohio County Marriages, 1789-2013, familysearch.org/search/collection/1614804).

Some experts would also have you add information about the original source after the title and before the page number, such as:

(Microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1994, from original records at the Miami County Probate Office, Troy, Ohio).

If somewhere down the line you plan to write for a genealogical journal, including more information will make it easier to match your citations to the journal’s standards. FamilySearch and some other genealogy websites provide helpful copy-and-paste source information on a tab in the record viewer.