It all began with this simple question. How many couples have been married in Wood County, O? To date, I have counted 40,290 licenses with the answer forthcoming.

In my effort to count every marriage license recorded in Wood County, beginning in 1820, I pulled from the shelf at random a ledger to assess the best way to count thousands of records. Ledger number 34, May 1932 - January 1933, was pulled, opened, and leafed through. Upon turning the pages I came across a record written in all Red Ink. This made no sense. All the other records were in Black Ink. Looking closer I saw the word “Colored” written top center of the marriage license in Red Ink. There was no mistaking it or denying it, the word and ink choice were deliberate.

Beginning with ledger 1, 1820s, I carefully leafed through hundreds of records before coming across the first marriage license following this Red Ink practice. The marriage license belonged to Harry G. Burnett and Clara (Pierce) Burnett, December 31, 1894.

Through years of archival and museum work, I had never come across Red Ink used for such a specific purpose. I have made it my purpose to uncover every example of Red Ink, photograph each example in color, create a searchable Index of all the African American couples subjected to this practice, and to help anyone seeking to know more about their ancestry.

Provided on this platform, the Red Ink Library seeks to provide a starting point for those connected by genealogy to African American couples married in Wood County. For those not connected to Wood County by genealogy, I will provide every resource I am able to help someone find out more about their past.

Sincerely,

Alexandra Hutchings
Founder / Historian / Activist