Genealogy research can be as frustrating as it can be exhilarating. There are a lot of different websites that will help you find the birth record, or death record of your ancestors. However, trying to find the record that shows that your ancestors became divorced is another matter entirely. Part of the problem with finding divorce records is because in years past divorce was seen as a scandalous event, and so, it might be covered up. Another problem comes from how the original records of divorce were recorded.
In the past couple of decades or so, divorce has ceased to be a scandal. It is still looked upon as an unpleasant and unfortunate event, and many people will do everything they can think of to prevent a divorce from occurring. Today, more and more women are initiating divorces. It no longer holds the stigma that it used to. If your ancestors became divorced in the relatively recent past, you might not have too much difficulty locating their divorce record. If you know where they lived, it is very likely that they got divorced in a local court. You can start by looking through the record room of that courthouse.
On the other hand, if your ancestors got divorced in early -post Revolutionary War times, you might have a great deal of difficulty finding a record of it. At the time, divorces were only granted in cases of adultery. At first, divorces were granted by state legislatures. It was only later, as the number of divorce cases increased, that the legislatures passed the ability to grant divorces to the courts. This means that a genealogist should look in several places to locate a divorce record. Try a state archive to locate records of a divorce that was granted by a state legislature. If you are trying to search court records, try looking under different courts. It could appear in chancery, circuit, district, family, probate, or even superior courts.
But, what if your ancestors got divorced in colonial times? Things get a bit trickier. The colonies had to submit all copies of laws or legislation to England. So, a couple who divorced in colonial Massachusetts might have a record of that divorce located in England. You might try and search the Colonial Office books. After 1773, England stopped approving divorces, so there are less records of divorce to be found after that. Another thing to keep in mind is that many colonists who got divorced may have gotten remarried before England officially approved their divorce. This makes things more confusing for the genealogist of today. The Centers for Disease Control have an archive of records that might be useful in your search, and they have a website.
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