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Divorces – Maybe Not so Rare

July 24, 2026

It is a common belief that divorce was rare in the United States before the second half of the twentieth century. Because of this, genealogists often don’t bother to even look for divorce records.

 

While divorce was less common in earlier eras, it was not as rare as you might think. Some states, such as New York, had strict divorce laws. Few divorces occurred in those states. Other states and territories had laxer laws. Mid-western and Western states tended to have looser divorce laws. Before 1900, Indiana, Utah and the Dakota Territory had the laxest divorce laws. These areas tended to attract out-of-state residents who wanted quick divorces.

 

The Family Search Wiki is a good place to find out what the divorce laws were like in the state where your ancestors lived. You can search by county and then narrow the search to “divorce” to find out what kinds of records may be available and how to access them.

 

To find if an ancestor was divorced, check the census. All U.S. censuses, beginning with 1880, indicate the marital status of each person. The four categories are “s” for single, “m” for married, “d” for divorced and “w” for widowed.

 

In earlier eras, divorce was considered shameful, particularly for women. Some of them tried to hide the fact that they were divorced by lying to the census taker. It’s not uncommon to find a woman listed as widowed when she was really divorced.

 

My great grandmother, Virtue Dawson, was divorced from my great grandfather in 1906. In the 1910 census she is listed with a “w” as her marital status. Her ex-husband was still alive and living in a nearby town. His status was listed as “d”.

 

If you suspect that a couple was divorced, local newspapers are worth searching. Newspapers often listed divorcing couples and sometimes even described the actual court hearings in graphic detail.

 

Divorces are granted at the county level. Most divorce records are considered public and are available to anyone. The local county courthouse is a good starting place. Older records may have been transferred to the State Archives. Local genealogical societies may also have indexed divorce records. Larimer County Genealogical Society indexed Larimer County divorces and placed the indexes online on their website. With the information from the indexes, it is simple to request the full divorce file.

 

Divorce files are often informative. They usually record the reason for the divorce, names and ages of any minor children, who got custody of those children and date and place of the marriage. I had never been able to find the date and place of the marriage of my great grandparents who divorced in 1906. Their divorce papers solved that mystery. They married later than I’d thought. The location was far removed from either of their hometowns. No wonder I’d had a difficult time finding their marriage records.

 

Divorces are the sort of record that most people dislike finding in their family tree. However, the records can help fill in blanks in family trees. Depending on where your ancestors lived, divorces may not have been as uncommon as you have been led to believe.

 

Carol Stetser

Researcher

Larimer County Genealogical Society

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing the Pond

July 17, 2027

For those whose ancestors arrived in the United States later than about 1850, it’s usually easy to trace their lines back to the original immigrant. For many of us that’s not

enough. We want to travel even further back in time with our relatives.

 

To do that, we must leave U.S. research and head overseas. For me and many others, that means European research. We need to “cross the pond” and delve into records from other countries. It can be daunting. This is especially true if our family has lost most of its ties with their countries of origin.

 

With so many resources available online, research in European countries is doable. That’s true even if you don’t speak the language. Between translation sites such as Google Translate and online tutorials and dictionaries, the records are understandable.

 

The only real roadblock to European research is location. You need to know where your ancestors lived. Knowing that an ancestor came from Sweden or England is not sufficient. Research in Europe relies heavily on church records. Those records were kept at the local parish level. Many of them are digitized, but they are not indexed by name.

 

This means you will have to figure out a place of origin for your ancestor before you can access European church records. If you’re lucky, someone in your family will know where the ancestors came from. I have had good luck writing to distant family who I discovered online on Family Search and Ancestry trees. My branch of the family may have forgotten where great grandpa came from, but another branch frequently knows.

 

It is often necessary to search various U.S records, as well. Passenger lists and naturalization records sometimes include place of birth. Passenger lists from the Ellis Island era almost always include specific places of origin. Naturalization records from the 20th century are the most likely to give an ancestor’s place of birth.

 

Other documents such as obituaries and cemetery records may also be useful. For example, the cemetery where my great grandparents were buried kept detailed records of the people interred there. In the case of my great grandparents, this included the village in England where each was born.

 

Many immigrants travelled with other people from the same neighborhood. If you can’t find where your ancestors came from, check the neighbors. They may have come from the same parish or village.

 

Ancestry and Family Search both have large collections of European church records. There are also country-specific sites such as Arkiv Digital, Find My Past and Scotland’s People. These sites deal with Sweden, England and Scotland, respectively. There are also sites for other countries. Family Search’s Wiki is a good place to learn what digitized church records exist for a specific country.

 

Church records are available as far back as the 1500s in some parts of Europe. Researching them can add generations to your family tree. Crossing the pond to find them is worth the effort.

 

Carol Stetser

Researcher

Larmer County Genealogical Society

Loyalists in the Family

July 10, 2026

Because so many of my ancestors were recent immigrants to the United States, I was surprised to find that I had several Revolutionary War Patriots. I was even more surprised to learn that I also had ancestors who’d supported the British during the Revolution.

 

Like most people of my generation, my knowledge of the Revolution was gained primarily through elementary and high school history classes. Back when I was in school, the coverage of the war was one-sided. My vision was that everyone was gung-ho for independence from England and ready to fight for their freedom.

 

I did learn that there were a few malcontents called Tories who supported Great Britain. I had the impression that there weren’t many of them. The Tories were the “bad guys” in the Revolution and were worse than the red-coated British soldiers who were just doing their duty.

 

I don’t remember ever learning much about what happened to those traitorous Tories, but I suppose I didn’t care much. They had chosen the “wrong side” of the war, after all, and deserved whatever fate befell them.

 

Decades later I learned about my ancestors who’d supported the British. I was prepared to be ashamed of them. After all they’d picked the “wrong side.” I soon realized that there was more to the story than I’d learned in school.

 

Those who remained committed to Great Britain are now usually called Loyalists rather than the more pejorative Tories. At the time of the Revolution, at least 20% of the American colonists supported continued union with Britain. Another 30% supported complete independence from Britain. About 40% of the population were neutral. Some of them were pacifists like the Quakers; others were backcountry farmers who just wanted to stay out of the fighting.

 

Some colonies had more Loyalists than others. New York, New Jersey and the southern colonies had large numbers of Loyalists. In addition, most Tribal Nations supported the British because they felt the Americans were more likely to take over their lands. Approximately 20,000 African Americans, both slave and free, also fought for the British.

 

Between 25,000 and 50,000 of the Loyalists joined the British army or fought in British-supporting militias. After the war ended, nearly 60,000 Loyalists fled the United States as refugees. Some of them went to England or the Caribbean, but most fled to Canada.

 

My own Loyalist ancestors sought refuge in Upper Canada. This area later became Ontario. Many of them received large land grants in Canada. If you suspect you have Loyalist ancestors, there are many Canadian records available about them. Family Search is a good starting place to access them.

 

As I delved further into the lives of my Loyalist ancestors, I found that most of them were not necessarily people to be ashamed of. They considered themselves to be Englishmen and women. By remaining loyal, they followed their beliefs.

 

As Americans, most of us believe that our Patriot ancestors chose the better path. There are many who might disagree. Just ask any Canadian.

 

If you have Loyalists in your family, you may find their stories as fascinating as those of your Patriot ancestors. They’re worth researching.

 

Carol Stetser

Researcher

Larimer County Genealogical Society