Lake County was formed under an act of the
Florida State Legislature of May 27th, 1887 from portions of Sumter
and Orange Counties.
Long before the formation of Lake
County, settlers
were coming and developing the area. The first settlement was
in
the area which is now Leesburg.
Lake County is located in the central
part of the
state, and was so named for its numerous lakes. At the time
the
county was created, there were over 1400 named lakes within its
boundaries. Its area is 953.1 square miles, with 200 square
miles
of lakes, and has sandy and clay soil.
The population in Lake County grew
steadily, while
the advent of the railroad brought many people into the country from
the world at large. Many from England settled in the
county. In 1890, the first census was collected and there
were
8,034 people
in the county. Then the Big Freeze of 1894-1895 discouraged
many
families, and people began to drift away. The population in
1900
was 7,467, in 1910 was 8,509, and in 1920 was 12,744.
This index was transcribed by Glorianne Fahs
<Gfahs@aol.com>.
Marriage License Book 1 begins with the first
marriage in
the new Lake County dated 18 August 1887. This index provides
the
names of the groom and bride, the date of marriage, and page number in
Book 1. In the official record you will also find the license
date, name of the person performing the ceremony and other
data.
Description of columns in the index:
1. Husband, surname followed by given name and/or initials.
2. Wife, surname followed by given name and/or initials.
She was a "miss", unless indicated by
(Mrs).
3. Date of marriage.
4. Page number in Marriage Book 1.
Two records appear on each page of the Marriage
Book.
While transcribing, utmost care was taken to copy the spellings exactly
as recorded. However, this may not have been the "correct"
spelling in all cases. Difficult to read names were compared
with
cemetery readings and other indexes of names of persons in the county.
It seemed to have been fashionable during this
time
period for the men to use their initials, rather than their given
names. In an effort to better identify the husband, this
transcriber has searched county, cemetery and census records for given
names. It is hoped that this will be helpful to researchers.
Some anomalia:
1. The second record on p. 273 was blank.
2. One man, Robert A. Payne, appears to have two
wives
because the license was issued in one name and the certification had
another name for the bride. So both names appear in the
index, i.e., Mary Ann Dickerson and Mary Ann Davis. (see page 278)
3. One record, for Hence Huff and Maggie Summers,
on page
425 contained license information only, not a marriage return.
The original bound book is no longer
available.
However, it is available on microfilm at the Lake County Public Records
Facility, 122 East Main St., Tavares, FL 32778; telephone (352)
253-2600. The hours of the facility are Monday through
Friday, 9
a.m. - 5 p.m. Most county court records are available on
microfilm at this location.
To obtain a copy of a marriage record listed in
this
index, use the Official Records Order Form (see example in
Appendix B); download form as a pdf file (25k) from Lake County
Government
at
http://www.lakecountyclerk.org/services.asp?subject=Forms_and_Documents.
This document is to be used by non-commercial entities only to request
copies and/or certified copies of documents from the Official Records
Books. After printing and legibly completing this form, it must be
mailed to Clerk of the Circuit Court, Recording Department, P.O. Box
7800, Tavares, FL 32778, along with a check or money order made payable
to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Copies are $1.00 per page and $1.00
per document to certify (if certification is requested). There is also
a postage
and handling charge of $1.00. (from Lake County Clerk of
Courts
website)