15 February 2012

Did They Really Divorce?

Your ancestor who supposedly "divorced" may never have bothered to go through the legal process. It was not as difficult as one might think for a couple to "separate" and eventually marry again. 

Civil War pensions contain numerous examples and it cannot only be war veterans and their wives who were a part of this occasional practice. 

Your ancestor may have separated and divorced. Or there may have been no divorce. 

1 comment:

  1. My husband's ancestor was a widow according to the 1860 census, but her husband died four years later and church records showed that they had been seperated for 15 years. Also, my ancestors sister had an 1803 version of a restraining order, and in her husband's will, he said she had left him. She was still able to get his Rev. War pension after he died.

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