Serious genealogists attempt to use primary sources to document every generation’s link to both the preceding and following generation. The chief primary sources are birth, marriage and death records, although there are both other familiar and lesser-known records available to genealogists.
California Civil Code Section 4213 allowed unwed couples who had been living together for any amount of time, if they were not minors, to get married legally without obtaining either a marriage license or health certificate. This unusual marital law was first authorized by statute in 1877-1878.
Confidential Marriage Licenses
Originally, the marriage was reported only to a designated county official. After 1982, copies of a license were sent to the state. Only the couple may purchase copies of the marriage license and must present valid picture identification together with the required fee to the County Clerk. Anyone else seeking a copy must have a court order.
Confidential marriage means very secret. For nearly a century, the State of California did not keep records of these marriages. It is impossible to determine if they took place, unless, perhaps, the couple later—for personal reasons—filled out an affidavit and swore to it under oath. County recorders keep a list of such marriages, but they are not permitted to divulge them. Technically, a clergyman is not supposed to reveal them either. In a few very rare cases, such information has been found among private records of deceased clergy.
Issues of Bigamy, Paternity, Maternity and Illegitimacy
Not only do confidential marriages leave genealogists without a major source of documentation, but they cast doubt on paternity. They also can make it difficult to determine whether a child is legitimate.
If you find a birth certificate for an ancestor, but cannot confirm whether or not the parents were married, and don’t know what period of time they lived together, then the paternity is suspect. An accommodating secretly married man might be lending his name to an illegitimate child of a secret spouse, especially if they plan to raise the child together.
The bigamy issue also can prevent knowing the child’s maternal lineage. If, for instance, the child is found in the 1920 census living with his father, it may be erroneously concluded that the spouse listed in that census entry is the mother.
One Third of California Marriages Are Secret
Although there have been minor modifications in California’s confidential marriages in recent decades, they still are protected secrets. Because they require no waiting period, permit bigamy to exist, have no witnesses and no blood test, such marriages have increased in number since the beginning of the Aids epidemic and also because they are cheaper.
By 1986, one third of the approximately 225,000 marriages performed in California annually were the quickie confidential ones. The percentage may be even higher now.
SOURCES: “Confidential Marriages in California,” Orange County, California, Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 1 (March, 1989); FAQs, California Department of Public Health website.
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