New York City Grooms Index
Database updated July 9, 2025
This database contains the indexes to 2,679,439 marriage records from 1866 to 1937 for the five Boroughs of New York City (Bronx, Kings, Manhattan, Queens and Richmond) .
NOTE: You can access
many years of New York City vital record certificates at the New York City Municipal Archives Historical Vital Records web site, for free. You can search by name or by certificate number. You can find the certificate number in this database or from the familysearch.org website. Certificate numbering starts over each year; so you will need to know the certificate number, the year and the county.
New York City Grooms Index includes the following years:
- Bronx: 1898 - 1937
- Kings: 1866 - 1937
- Manhattan: 1865 - 1937
- Queens: 1898 - 1937
- Richmond: 1898 - 1937
After 1937, there was no longer a requirement to register the marriage with the Health Department. All marriages from 1938 to the present are recorded with the Clerk in the borough where the marriage took place.
We have found what appears to be male names in the brides index, and female names in the grooms index. If your search is not successful in one index try the other index.
For an index to every marriage license filed at the New York City Clerk's Office from 1950-1995, see:
NYC-marriage Licenses
NOTE: Be aware that a date like Nov 25'05 with a year 1906 indicates that the event took place on the 25th of the month in the year 1905 but was recorded in 1906. Another indication that an event was recorded in the following year is a low certificate number for a month in the later part of the year. For example, if the event took place in December and the certificate number is 145, it probably was recorded the following year.
ALSO: Some birth and marriage certificates may have a letter following the certificate number. An "S" means Special,
and is an indication that the certificate has been corrected. A "D" means a Delayed
Certificate; usually issued because an original was never issued and a
certificate is required for something like Social Security or maybe some
legal action.
For all certificates, an "A"
after a certificate number means that the number was issued twice, to
different people;. The letter does not always appear on the certificate.
A "?"
after a number indicates that we found that the certificate number is
not correct (or the year or county); that particular number was assigned to someone else. It's
an indication to the Municipal Archives staff that they may have to do
some other digging to find the right person. If the certificate number was unknown, "99999" was used.
