When searching for marriage records, it is helpful to know the phrase “Gretna Green.” When a couple runs away from their home area to get married in a place with fewer marriage restrictions, the place they go is often referred to as a “Gretna Green.”[1] Las Vegas is an example of a modern-day Gretna Green.
The phrase originated with a town in Scotland that became famous as a runaway wedding destination when English marriage laws prohibited marriage under the age of 21. English couples would cross the Scottish border to Gretna Green to get married.
A “Gretna Green marriage” came to mean, in general, “a marriage transacted in a jurisdiction that was not the residence of the parties being married, to avoid restrictions or procedures imposed by the parties’ home jurisdiction.”[2]
If you are searching for elusive marriage
records in the United States, try searching for the records in some of the common
Gretna Green locations. For your reference, FamilySearch
has a
list of Gretna Greens and what areas they served.
[1] “Gretna Greens in the United States” FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Gretna_Greens_in_the_United_States : accessed 17 April 2019).
[2] “Gretna Green.” Wikipedia, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretna_Green accessed 17 April 2019).
