Looking for parents of Thomas (J?) Williams?

Question:aprox dates are b-1900 d-1943 he married Marion Greenfield her aprox dates are b-1910 d-1986 I am not sure what year they were married but they had 4 kids, They lived in Franklin Springs NY area. I am looking for info on his parents especially because I am compleatly stuck there, but If anyone knows anything about her I would be happy to hear about her too. I was also wondering if I can find out where they were married as a grandchild can I get a copy of their maggiage licence/birth certs ect? thank you for any help.

(I already knkow about message boards and general search stuff but I havnt had any luck searching because I dont know enough info so please no garden variety suggestions thank you)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: aprox dates are b-1900 d-1943 he married Marion Greenfield her aprox dates are b-1910 d-1986 I am not sure what year they were married but they had 4 kids, They lived in Franklin Springs NY area. I am looking for info on his parents especially because I am compleatly stuck there, but If anyone knows anything about her I would be happy to hear about her too. I was also wondering if I can find out where they were married as a grandchild can I get a copy of their maggiage licence/birth certs ect? thank you for any help.

(I already knkow about message boards and general search stuff but I havnt had any luck searching because I dont know enough info so please no garden variety suggestions thank you)

This is what I found:

Thomas J. Williams
born: 9/18/1902 Holland Patent, New York
Died 6/4/1943 Franklin Springs, New York

Wife: Marian Greenfield
Born: 1916
Died: 1987
They were married: 10/23/1936 in New York

Thomas J. Williams parents were:

Thomas J. Williams and Minnie W. Clemens

Search engines or message boards can help, but the priority is for you to obtain documentation of the info you already have. Since you only have aprox dates, that is number one. She should be included in the social security death index, perhaps she married again after his death. If she was age 20 when married. the marriage date will be about 1930- if the children are still alive, we cannot obtain that info for you. The marriage is probably shortly before birth of the eldest child. This marriage date is critical, in order to know if they were lving together in the 1930 census, or still with the parents. Yes. marriage records are public documents, although the license itself goes to the couple. His death certificate will include the name(s) of his parents. What is your source for the year of his death?
IF any of the 4 children are still alive.. it is possible they could identify brothers or sisters of his, who might have lived long enough to show up in the social security death index. If Franklin Springs is where he is buried, you may try to find his burial in the county genweb site.
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'source' normally means an original document that verifies your info. It helps you to remember that not only does it "prove" your info, but it will lead you to the next level of information. It also allows someone coming after you, to review the record, and often, may see something additional.
Molly has given you some direct information, but she does not show WHERE that info originates.

Birth, marriage and death records are public records. While some restrictions are made in regard to NEWER records...in most US counties anyone can go to the court house or the state historical society, look an older record up, make notes and/or have a Xerox copy made of them for a $1. or less, no questions asked.
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If you can not visit a court house in person, you can write and request a form to have a search done for you. They will tell you the rates for doing a search, which must be paid in advance. Remember, most of the fee will be for doing the search, so that if they don't find the record you seek...don't expect a refund. This is why most genealogists prefer to do their look-up themselves..\
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If you request a Xerox copy for genealogy purposes the rates should be cheaper then for a "certified copy".
Most offices will try to sell you a certified copy because they can charge more, however... such copies are totally pointless for family tree work and it is a foolish waste of money since all you want is the information on the record.
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Also be warned...some court houses, when asked for a certified copy, will not just notarize a scanned copy of the original record for you. They will instead type you up a brand new document using only a few select basic pieces of info off the original record. This, of course, defeats the whole purpose of obtaining the record for research.
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Always ask for a scanned (Xerox) copy of the original record so you can be sure to get ALL the info it included.
If you visit the site below you will be able to find "contact info" for obtaining vital records from every state.
http://www.vitalrec.com/