Is divorce lurking in your family tree?

Many genealogists never think of checking divorce records for information about their families. That’s probably because most of us think of divorce as a 20th Century phenomenon and neglect to consider it when we’re doing our own research. While in the Middle Ages only kings and wealthy aristocrats could persuade the church to grant annulments of marriages, by the 1800s divorce among common people occurred more frequently than often realized.

Clues that a divorce might be lurking in your tree include finding a woman who lists herself as a widow in the U.S. census when there is no record of a husband’s death or a likely explanation for his absence such as a war.

In Maine divorces were generally granted by superior courts. A few were granted by the Legislature but those were only given to well-connected individuals. Records of earlier divorces are housed at the Maine State Archives. The Archives has created an index and the documents can be viewed by researchers.

These divorce records reveal a great deal about the law in this state and the couple involved in the procedure. As late as the 1850s a successful divorce petition in Maine was granted to the plaintiff but not to the defendant. This created a situation where one party in a marriage was divorced and the other still legally married. Many times people thinking they were divorced would remarry and find themselves charged with bigamy. Courts usually granted a divorce so the erring couple could marry and legitimize any children born to the second marriage.

Usually early divorces cited abuse, abandonment, and non-support as grounds though cruelty and lewd behavior were always included in the mix.

Aside from grounds what can a divorce record tell you? All will give the marriage date and place, a plus if you haven’t located a marriage record for a couple. They almost always give the names and dates of births of children which you may not find elsewhere if no vital records exist. The records will show which parent gained custody of the children and often sons were with fathers and daughters with mothers which will account for not locating family members in the census.

The divorce record will also give you the then current residences of the involved parties and that can be a great help if your ancestor has been difficult to locate. And, they also give a last known date of life for both parties. If you have an ancestor who simply drops out of sight that may provide a clue as to a possible death date.

Access to other state divorce records are governed by that state’s laws. Ancestry.com also has some divorce indexes from states such as Connecticut which can help if you want to order a copy of the judgment.

Reading the details of an ancestor’s marital breakup can be painful but those details can answer questions you may have spent years seeking and have been unable to locate elsewhere. So, don’t hesitate to utilize this resource if it seems to apply to someone in your family tree.

Nancy Battick is a Dover-Foxcroft native who has researched genealogy for over 30 years. She is past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, author of several genealogical articles and co-transcribed the Vital Records of Dover-Foxcroft. Nancy holds a MA in History from UM and lives in DF with her husband, Jack, another avid genealogist. You can contact Nancy at nbattick@roadrunner.com.