This series consists of unbound marriage licenses and applications which have been arranged in alphabetical order by surname of the groom. The applications are very few and date from the late 1920's and early 1930's. Whenever there was an application, it was filed with its respective license. Information on the licenses includes: (1) name of the groom (2) name of the bride (3) date the license was issued (4) date of the marriage (5) name of the Ordinary and (6) name of the person performing the marriage ceremony. On the back of most licenses is written the book and page where the licenses are recorded, although no effort has been made to compare the completeness on this file with the recorded copies of the marriage record volumes of the county. Some names from the 1860's are marked "freedman" or "freedwoman." Others from the 1860's to around 1900 are marked "colored." There were many more marriages between black couples than were so designated. For example, it is known that Marriage Book E was reserved for "colored" marriages; therefore, it can be assumed that all unbound marriages marked as recorded in Book E belong to black couples. The following symbols were used in the finding aid, and their use is indicated: +Colored, ++Freedman or freedwoman, *Application or return only (no license), **Date cited is the date of the license, not the marriage. Used if the date of the marriage is illegible or if the license had been returned unexecuted.

The finding aid has been divided into two parts. The first part deals with locations of the original document. The boxes listed give only the first through the last name of the grooms within that box. To find the name of the groom or bride desired, you can do either a search within this series or use the finding aid.