Today instead of concentrating on a marriage record, I thought I would find out how many couples in my database/tree were divorced overall and how many before 1900?
I know my own parents were,
and my Dad also had a first wife, prior to my Mom.
Divorce wasn’t always as
common as it is today. I don’t believe
it was that couples didn’t have issues, I think it was just handled
differently. They could live apart or
they would stay together and continue being miserable.
We have to remember that prior
to 1900, women couldn’t own property, most had no means of support. And shockingly, if they became widows or did
divorce, they couldn’t even be guardians of their own children.
As a reference point here is a
list of women’s rights, from 1769-1900:1
1769 —
The early American colonies base their laws on the English common law,
which said, “By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in the law. The
very being and legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage,
or at least is incorporated into that of her husband under whose wing and
protection she performs everything.”
1777 —
All states pass laws taking away women’s right to vote.
1833 —
Oberlin College is founded as the first co-educational institution that accepts
women and African Americans.
1848 —
At Seneca Falls, 300 women and men sign the Declaration of Sentiments, a plea
for the end of discrimination against women.
1848 —
New York passes the Married Woman’s Property Act. For the first time, a
woman isn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter
contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her
own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic
purposes, an individual.
1870 —
The 15th Amendment is ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
African-Americans may vote now, but women may not.
1872 —
Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman to run for U.S. President. She
receives few votes.
1890 —
Wyoming becomes the first state to grant women the right to vote in
its state elections.
1900 —
By now, every state has passed legislation modeled after New York’s Married
Women’s Property Act (1848), granting married women some control over their
property and earnings.
Back to my subject –
·
How many divorces are recorded in my Legacy database?
108
·
How many of those divorces took place prior to
1900? 5
To find these figures using Legacy, I used Find>Detailed Search and then entered the parameters I needed. You’ve all seen me do these kinds of searches numerous times.
Of the 5 couples who
divorced these are the dates I have.
1863,
1865, 1874, circa 1880-1885 and 1899
I have 1786 Individuals
or 893 couples who have a recorded marriage date in my tree,
prior to 1900.
That’s a lot of marriages and
only 5 divorces. I suspect there are
many stories we do not and never will know.
Are you curious how many of
your ancestors divorced?
Let me know if you ran a
similar report with your software and what the results were.
Source: 1 – History of Women’s Rights in America
Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
