Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- San Diego County (Calif.). Office of County Recorder
- Abstract:
- Extent:
- 37.69 cubic feet (30 oversize boxes, 11 record cartons, and 3 manuscript boxes)
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
San Diego County Recorder marriage records. San Diego County Archives
Background
- Scope and content:
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This collection consists of 30 volumes of marriage certificates and related indexes and 14 boxes of related records that were registered in San Diego County from 1856 through 2023. Recent records are confidential marriage licenses and certificates, which date from 2013 through 2023. The original geographic boundaries of San Diego County include territory encompassing present day Imperial (formed 1907), Riverside (formed 1893), Inyo (formed 1866, expanded 1872), and San Bernardino (formed 1853) Counties. Marriage records are deemed special county records by California Health and Safety Code section 102395, which state that “Special county records of birth, death, and marriage and the local registrar’s records of birth, death, and marriage shall be subject to Sections 26205.5 and 26205.7 of the Government Code.” Arrangement of Records Records have been arranged in four series: 1) Indexes to Marriage Certificates (1856-1992), 2) Marriage Certificates (1856-1957), 3) Confidential Marriage Licenses and Certificates (2013-2023), and 4) Ancillary marriage records (1927-2003). Series 1) Indexes to Marriage Certificates: Includes bound and disbound indexes to marriages registered in San Diego County and are arranged in four subseries: A) Men, B) Women, C) Men and Women, and D) Confidential. Indexes include each spouse’s name, and when and where the ceremony occurred. Early indexes include the name of the officiant while later volumes include a local registration number. Marriage certificates include the names of the couple, their residences, ages, previous number of marriages, birthplaces, occupations, parents’ names and birthplaces, witnesses, the officiant’s name, and the date and location of the ceremony. For 1856–1957, there are separate indexes for men and women. Beginning in 1958, indexes for men and women are in the same volume. Index volumes are arranged chronologically within subseries. Indexed data is listed alphabetically within the volume by last name. Series 2) Marriage Certificates: Includes narrative documents and individual certificates that codify the details of marriages that were registered in San Diego County. Certificates include the spouses’ names, residence, age, number of previous marriages, occupations, parents’ names and birthplaces, witnesses, the officiant and the date and location of the ceremony. Records in this series are not all-inclusive as the Office of the Recorder/County Clerk is the secondary holder for these records. Arranged chronologically by date of registration. Series 3) Confidential Marriage Licenses and Certificates: Consists of Confidential Marriage Licenses and Certificates filed in San Diego County with the Office of the County Clerk. Confidential Marriage Licenses may be issued by the Clerk’s Office or by an Authorized Notary Public. Confidential Marriage Licenses and Certificates can be issued to couples who are living together as spouses at the time that they apply for the marriage license, and they must sign under penalty of perjury attesting to the fact. No witnesses are required to be present at the ceremony and no witnesses sign on the marriage license. Both registrants must be at least 18 years old at the time of licenses issuance. Confidential Marriage Licenses and Certificates are not public records and certified copies can only be released to the registrants or those entitled to receive the record as the result of a court order, as found in Family Code Section 511(c). This provides for a greater level of privacy, especially for law enforcement or others looking to restrict information. This series is arranged chronologically by year and then numerically by registration number. Series 4) Ancillary marriage records: This series consists of two disbound volumes of Notices of Intent to Marry forms from 1927 The Notice of Intent to Marry forms do not appear to be related to the marriages of minors, nor of foreign nationals, as would be the customary reason for such forms today.
- Biographical / historical:
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The San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk (ARCC) department consists of three divisions, the Administration Division, the Assessor Division, and the Recorder/County Clerk Division. The department is the result of the combination of three distinct county offices: the San Diego County Assessor (established 1849), County Recorder (established 1850), and County Clerk (established 1849.) The responsibilities of the Assessor's office are rooted in the Constitution of the State of California (1849). Section 13 of Article XI notes that “assessors and collectors of town, County, and State taxes, shall be elected by the qualified electors… in which the property taxed… is situated.” Chapter 43 of the statutes of the 1850 California legislature (California Stats. 1850, Ch. 43) passed “An Act concerning the office of the County Assessor,” which addressed several administrative points, among them term of office, appointment of deputies, compensation, and other administrative provisions. Further clarification regarding the duties of the County Assessor were provided in California Stats. 1852, Ch. 3 which mandates the location, identification, and valuation of all vacant land, improved real estate, and business property. This was later expanded to include certain manufactured homes, boats, and aircraft. Additionally, the Assessor's office maintains comprehensive records on all taxable properties within the boundaries of the San Diego County, including the maintenance of maps of all real property parcels. Similarly, California Stat. 1850, Ch. 58, “An Act establishing Recorders’ Offices, and defining the Duties of the Recorder and County Auditor,” was passed on April 4, 1850. The California state legislature implemented a recording system to document and preserve evidence of title to, or interest in, land. The County Recorder was tasked with the permanent recording and preservation of Official Records, defined in California Government Code section 27300 as “… permanent archival record of all instruments, papers, and notices as accepted for recording by a county recorder.” Over time, the responsibilities of the recorder evolved, adapting to changing needs and merging with the duties of other related officials. For example, in 1872, the County Recorder was designated the local registrar for birth, death, and marriage records. In July 1905 a state agency, currently the California Department of Public Heath – Vital Records unit, became the primary record holder of birth, death, and marriage records. The primary purpose of the recording system was to provide a public record of property ownership within the county and to document transfers or encumbrances affecting properties. Certain transactions in personal property were also included in the public record. This system allowed individuals intending to purchase land, the opportunity to determine the ownership and condition of a property's title in a public setting. The adopted system was based on practices in many Eastern states in 1850, which involved indexing the names of parties involved in land transactions to one volume while copying the actual document text into separate volumes. Distinct sets of indexes and volumes were allocated for each type of document, as defined by California Government Code sections 27232 through 27254. However, in 1921 the legislature authorized the use of a combined General Index for all types of documents. Section 7 of Article VI of the Constitution of the State of California (1849) established the office of the County Clerk while California Stats. 1850, Ch. 110 defined the duties of the office. The County Clerk served as the ex officio clerk of the court of sessions and probate court, attending each session of the county courts for which they held responsibility, they issued all writs, entered orders, judgments, and decrees, maintained dockets for all courts, and managed and disposed of records in accordance with the law. Additionally, the County Clerk administered oaths and accepted bonds for public officials. For a brief period beginning in 1866 with the Registry Act (California Stats. 1866, Ch. 265), the County Clerk was also responsible for recording a list of every eligible voter in the county. The Registration Act of 1858 established the first statutory provisions for the registration of marriages in California. This Act established a State Registrar of Vital Statistics charged with preparing and providing County Recorders with forms and books to register marriages. This Act was repealed in 1860, and there was no statutory guidance for the registration of marriages until the creation of a State Board of Health in 1869. However, it was not until 1872 that Section 3074 of the California Political Code charged County Recorders with keeping a register of marriages, complete with an index. This change led to more complete and uniform record keeping, as reflected in the San Diego County Recorder historic marriage records collection. Beginning on July 1, 1905, registering marriages was standardized with the establishment of the state Bureau of Vital Statistics. The local registrar, the County Recorder, receives a Certificate of Registry of Marriage from persons performing marriage ceremonies who then delivers the original certificate to the State Registrar. The State Registrar was thereby established as the primary record holder, and any local copies retained in the County were secondary copies (California Stats. 1905, Ch. CX). Subsequent legislation consolidated initial registration with various Health Departments, with copies filed with the County Recorder. The Health and Safety Code was established in 1939 and continues to serve as the location for all statutes concerning vital records and statistics. Current statutes are in the Health and Safety Code, Division 102, Sections 102100-103925. As of June 2024, the California Department of Public Health – Vital Records is the designated state agency. County Clerks are responsible for the issuance of public and confidential marriage licenses and the Clerk is the local registrar of confidential marriages, maintaining a permanent index of all confidential marriages registered. The County Recorder is the local registrar of public marriages under the direction of the State Registrar. The document issued by the Clerk is considered a license until it is registered with the Recorder, at which point it becomes a marriage certificate. Confidential marriage licenses in California were established in 1878, although they were not frequently requested until after 1972 when the California legislature broadened the law to allow laypeople, not just clergy, to perform confidential marriages. No witnesses are needed for a confidential marriage license, and it is not a public record, in accordance with California Family Code, Section 500-511. The County Clerk is the primary record holder for confidential marriage certificates. In 1990, an amendment to the San Diego County Charter was proposed with the intent of consolidating the responsibilities of the County Clerk and County Recorder into a single entity. A special election was called, and this merger was subsequently approved by the voters, leading to its implementation in 1991. A further amendment was proposed in 1993, aiming to consolidate the Recorder/County Clerk with the Assessor. This amendment was also approved by the voters, resulting in the establishment of the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk under the leadership of a single elected official in 1995. Today, the County Clerk in San Diego County continues to perform essential functions as defined in California Government Code sections 26801 through 26810, including the acceptance of filings for fictitious business names and notary public oaths and bonds, the issuance of marriage licenses, and conducting civil marriage ceremonies. Note that the original geographic boundaries of San Diego County included territory in present-day Imperial (formed 1907), Riverside (formed 1893), Inyo (formed 1866, expanded 1872), and San Bernardino (formed 1853) Counties.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Access is restricted. For access information, please contact the San Diego County Archives staff at archives@sdcounty.ca.gov.
- Preferred citation:
-
San Diego County Recorder marriage records. San Diego County Archives
- Location of this collection:
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10144 Mission Gorge RoadSantee, CA 92071, US
- Contact:
- (619) 237-0502