--- title: Multiple searches for a New Jersey marriage description: While editing the Winter 2016 issue of Mayflower Descendant, I searched the draft articles for additional genealogical facts for the families presented. image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-1a-1024x364-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Multiple searches for a New Jersey marriage [December 28, 2015](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/multiple-searches-new-jersey-marriage) [Critical Analysis](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/critical-analysis), [American History](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/american-history), [Research Methods](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods), [Brick Walls](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/brick-walls), [Research tips](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-tips) [Christopher C. Child](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/cchild) [![Mary Richmond 1a](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-1a-1024x364-1.jpg?width=604&height=215&name=Mary-Richmond-1a-1024x364-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-1a-1.jpg) Click on images to expand them. While editing the Winter 2016 issue of *Mayflower Descendant*, I searched the draft articles for additional genealogical facts for the families presented. Christopher Carter Lee’s article – “Elizabeth (Briggs) Shippey and her husband Ishmael of Raritan Landing, New Jersey, and their descendants through *Specimens* of Josiah Shippey” – traces several generations of John Alden descendants in New Jersey and New York. As surviving vital records for those two states are often scattered in various places, this article is a great example of gathering records from genealogy and newspaper websites, national genealogical repositories, and local libraries and genealogical societies. My example regards the marriage of descendant Mary Richmond of New Brunswick, New Jersey. She married Robert Adrain, also of New Brunswick, and the two are buried there at [Christ Church Episcopal Churchyard](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=adrain&GSfn=mary&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=105588420&df=all&). I found the marriage listed twice on FamilySearch.org in their database “New Jersey Marriages, 1678-1985.” Then, as I was conducting a microfilm search for film #542512 in the Family History Library catalog, I learned this specific record came from the collection “Vital statistics from Trenton newspapers, 1800-1900,” which was an alphabetical listing of newspaper abstracts. (Previous online newspaper searches for this marriage had turned up nothing.) My colleague at the Family History Library scanned the two nearly identical copies of this abstract, which were taken from *The New Jersey State Gazette *and the *Emporium & True American*. [![Mary Richmond 2](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-2-300x181-1.jpg?width=300&height=181&name=Mary-Richmond-2-300x181-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-2-1.jpg)[![Mary Richmond 3](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-3-300x181-1.jpg?width=300&height=181&name=Mary-Richmond-3-300x181-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-3-1.jpg) The information given includes the date and page of the newspaper, which was not in the online database on FamilySearch, and neither database searched thus far had given the location. The *Emporium & True American *for this time period is available online at GenealogyBank.com, so when I could not find the marriage searching for Robert Adrain or Mary Richmond (or any combination thereof), I went specifically to the date of 11 July 1835, and from there to page 3, and found the following marriage announcement: [![Mary Richmond 4a](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-4a-1.jpg?width=913&height=575&name=Mary-Richmond-4a-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mary-Richmond-4a-1.jpg) Obviously this announcement had much more information than the initial database on FamilySearch, including the place of marriage, the bride’s father’s name, and that he was deceased and had been a captain in the U.S. Army. The path to find this record involved an online search, then a microfilm scan, and then a second online search, and it was obviously worthwhile for the more detailed information shown above. ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/multiple-searches-new-jersey-marriage](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/multiple-searches-new-jersey-marriage) - - - More - - ![Christopher C. Child](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Chris_Child_Jan25.jpg) ## About Christopher C. Child Chris Child has worked for various departments at American Ancestors since 1997 and became a full-time employee in July 2003. He has been a member of American Ancestors since the age of eleven. He has written several articles in American Ancestors, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and The Mayflower Descendant. He is the co-editor of The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton (American Ancestors, 2011), co-author of The Descendants of Judge John Lowell of Newburyport, Massachusetts (Newbury Street Press, 2011) and Ancestors and Descendants of George Rufus and Alice Nelson Pratt (Newbury Street Press, 2013), and author of The Nelson Family of Rowley, Massachusetts (Newbury Street Press, 2014). Chris holds a B.A. in history from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Areas of expertise: Southern New England, especially Connecticut; New York; ancestry of notable figures, especially presidents; genetics and genealogy; African-American and Native-American genealogy, 19th and 20th Century research, westward migrations out of New England, and applying to hereditary societies. Chris has lectured on these topics and edits the genetics and genealogy column for American Ancestors.[View all posts by Christopher C. 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