Society Saturday - D I V O R C E sung by Tammy Wynette

Editor's note: Today's post was written by Sandra Gardner-Benward

Sorry but I just wanted to get your attention ........  but it was not Tammy Wynette this time it was actually...........


..........Glenda Gardner Lloyd

speaking about       D I V O R C E !! 

 

This was our presentation and discussion last Thursday evening......... great handout too.

 Do you have a DIVORCE or maybe more in your family? Finding these records could be a lot more difficult to find than other records. They could be in the superior court, equity court, probate court, family courts. Huge differences still exist in the law from one state to another.

You need to do a little more research on the laws of the times in the area/state you are interested in. So much differences between states and how they handled Divorce if they allowed it at all. Yes you heard right

IF they allowed people to divorce at all........  some  times you had to put a notice in local public newspaper that you are seeking the divorce AND WHY!! Now that could be embarrassing for one or both parties. Sometimes that notice might run for 2 or 3 weeks. Can you imagine?

I do remember seeing  'D' = divorce some of the US census forms for my ancestors...  Glenda brought it to our attention that it was not until 1880 US Census that they recognized Divorce. Before that it was Single, Married, Widow. So it could be that people were divorced but it indicated that they were widowed or single or even just married. It will be up to you to decide through more research in the court system.

Ancestry, Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and the Family Search are all good resources for your search. You might even GOOGLE 'divorce records 1920-1928 Stark County Ohio' (just put in your time frame and location) See what comes up.

Don't you wish that record would just pop up .......  well, are you helping in the indexing project with FamilySearch.org? if not why not? People are indexing all over the country and world, who is to say that your record in St Paul Missouri isn't the next one to be indexed. So why not help things a long and say thank you to that person by doing some indexing in your area too.

Glenda recommends to find a professional researcher or someone that knows the insides of the courthouse to locate those records/documents for you.

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