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