Free public records search?

Question

is there a website where i can lookup marriage records for free? i know there is cuz i've done it before but i don't know what site it was, and i can't seem to find it again. every site i can find wants my credit card number...even tho they say its "free"

Answer 1

google search

Answer 2

Nothing is ever free.  Have you ever been to all those adult websites that promise free access and then get diverted to a webpage where you have to enter your credit card details.  It's the same kind of deal.  They promise the earth on a google search to get you to their site, and demand money with menaces afterwards.  All decent genealogy websites work the same way.  Those countries that aren't completely paranoid about giving out personal details of living people for free due to ID fraud usually insist that the person doing the searching put up some kind of money upfront just to weed out the loonies who want the information for illegal purposes or else they only open up certain information that is more than 100 years old or so and can't cause anyone any harm.

Would you really want someone to be able to go online for free and print off your birth and marriage certificates, and then pretend to be you, open bank accounts and get loans and things in your name, because that's what this kind of thing will allow?  I'm sure you wouldn't.  There's a reason that recent public records are not free to access for all and sundry online, and I for one am glad.  If they were, Nigerian 419 internet fraudsters would think all their Christmasses had come at once.

Answer 3

Try the Mormon church IGI,  Go to www.familyseach.org. It contains thousands of names of BMD, and it is a totally free site.

Robert

Answer 4

If you are in the UK you could try  either of these sites,

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/offers/uk/...

Like Mental Mickey says there isn't much that's for free.

Answer 5

You don't indicate what location and time you want to search. Many US states have indexes to early records that are free to search, such as http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/depart...

Answer 6

Instead of thinking of a free marriage site.. think in terms of the place and approximate time frame. Not centralized.

You don't indicate the country.. however, www.usgenweb.com has free websites which are county based.  So.. if you believe the marriage was 1930 in Los Angeles county, you check their webpage to see what may be posted.  Much depends on the time frame you need.

Some localities have marriage records online, others don't. You need to be specific as to where and when.