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Hi all. I was wondering if there was a way to retrieve very old Illinois divorce records online? I just a couple days ago discovered that one of my great grandmothers was very briefly married to a man she had her first child with. I did find a record saying they were married in 1908 in Clay County, Illinois, but by the 1910 census my great grandmother was living with her step father and her infant daughter in Douglas County, Illinois. The man remarried to another woman a couple years later in Indiana.
I know it's an unusual story, especially for that time period. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi all. I was wondering if there was a way to retrieve very old Illinois divorce records online? I just a couple days ago discovered that one of my great grandmothers was very briefly married to a man she had her first child with. I did find a record saying they were married in 1908 in Clay County, Illinois, but by the 1910 census my great grandmother was living with her step father and her infant daughter in Douglas County, Illinois. The man remarried to another woman a couple years later in Indiana.
I know it's an unusual story, especially for that time period. Any help would be appreciated.
Illinois Department of Public Health site, gives details on finding divorice records.
From above site:
"Copies of marriage records can be obtained from the county clerk in the county where the marriage occurred. Copies of divorce records are maintained by the circuit clerk in the county where the divorce was granted. (List of county circuit court clerk offices) IDPH, Division of Vital Records does not provide copies of these records. It only performs searches and verifications of the facts of a marriage or divorce for the years 1962 through the current index date available.
Most county clerks have indexes to records prior to 1916 that are available for the purpose of genealogical research. These indexes generally provide the name, date and place of occurrence and are located in county courthouses located throughout the state. Although self-service access to the indexes is generally permitted, the law limits physical access to the individual records to the clerk's staff. When you locate a record from the index, it will be necessary for the clerk to pull the record for you once you have paid the appropriate search fee. Please check with the county clerk for fees and policies on reviewing indexes."
Hmmm...sounds like a tough get. I'm not anywhere near Clay County so I can't just drive down there. Thanks for the info though.
Try calling or writing. Or, sign up to a Rootsweb genealogy mail list local to the county, and ask if someone local can do the look-up. Genealogists do this all the time.
...I know it's an unusual story, especially for that time period. Any help would be appreciated.
I was lucky enough that another researcher in my family had the divorce record for a sister of my Great Grandmother. It was in Cook County, Illinois, the capitol of fantastic record keeping. Think your story was unusual?
We are still searching for the woman in Chicago on the 1900 Census, when she was 21. She appears at least a little bit loose, having a child out of wedlock in 1904. The biological father took the child home to have her raised by his two older sisters (he was the youngest of the family, and his two brothers and the two sisters never married, all living with their parents as adults)!
In 1907, the couple married, in strange arrangement that she would live with her mother, he would live with his family (and their little girl), and he would pay her cost of living expenses. The 1910 Census has her in her mother's house, but with another man, and taking his last name. The divorce record is in 1913.
She alleges in court that he gave her syphilis. He isn't there to defend himself. It appears that her lawyer intentionally sent the summons to the wrong address. She (and my Great Great Grandmother, her mother) testified that she was a faithful wife. No mention was made of their child together, being raised in the household of the man from which she was seeking to divorce.
An employer that testified on her behalf died in her mid-20's about a year later...
Being granted the divorce, she marries the man that was with her in her mother's household in 1910. They do not have any children. I can't find them on the 1920 Census either. She dies in her 40's after that (heart disease was common for the women of that family). Her later husband lives more than a decade longer, the divorced husband remarries some time later, but also doesn't seem to live with the second wife.
The illegitimate (?) daughter is a Grandmother to my third cousin, where we met in putting the story together. There was also a second illegitimate child by another (unknown) father that died in infancy. Still many unknowns, but we feel we have a good start.
IBMMuseum, that's a fascinating story. Divorce wasn't as rare back then as we might think. My hubby's grandfather divorced his first wife in Sept. 1913. Two weeks later he married my hubby's grandma.
Also, it was common for women who were separated to say "widow" on the census. If you're ever searching someone who is a widow on the census and you can't find a death cert for hubby, keep that in mind.
IBMMuseum, that's a fascinating story. Divorce wasn't as rare back then as we might think. My hubby's grandfather divorced his first wife in Sept. 1913. Two weeks later he married my hubby's grandma.
Also, it was common for women who were separated to say "widow" on the census. If you're ever searching someone who is a widow on the census and you can't find a death cert for hubby, keep that in mind.
I thought that was the case with another Great Great Grandmother, but I found that she remarried for a very short time before her second husband died, her first husband ran off with another woman...
Further details about the other story. Both illegitimate daughters have no birth record I have been able to find. The second daughter that died in infancy (born in 1905, died in 1906) had no mother and father listed on the Cook County death certificate. Her body was claimed by the family of the biological father of the first (corrections made for the mortician and cemetery), although her surname doesn't match with anyone we know. They buried her in the family plot, which of course was otherwise just family.
Try calling or writing. Or, sign up to a Rootsweb genealogy mail list local to the county, and ask if someone local can do the look-up. Genealogists do this all the time.
Thanks for the tip. I subscribed and posted. Will be interesting to see if I get any responses back. I'll try contacting the clerk's office down there as well.
IBMMuseum, Isn't genealogy great? Our ancestors led lives as complex as our modern day lives. We like to thnk it was a simpler time, but I don't think it was. Thanks for sharing your family story.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IBMMuseum
I thought that was the case with another Great Great Grandmother, but I found that she remarried for a very short time before her second husband died, her first husband ran off with another woman...
Further details about the other story. Both illegitimate daughters have no birth record I have been able to find. The second daughter that died in infancy (born in 1905, died in 1906) had no mother and father listed on the Cook County death certificate. Her body was claimed by the family of the biological father of the first (corrections made for the mortician and cemetery), although her surname doesn't match with anyone we know. They buried her in the family plot, which of course was otherwise just family.
IBMMuseum, Isn't genealogy great? Our ancestors led lives as complex as our modern day lives. We like to thnk it was a simpler time, but I don't think it was. Thanks for sharing your family story.
I've thought of a DNA test that might prove a biological link to my third cousins, rather than them being descended from a foster child of a man trying to help a woman with questionable relationships out. She was the eldest of the siblings split up when my Great Great Grandmother's first husband died (I am descended from the second eldest, whom had a smaller set of troubles with her foster family). My G-G-Grandmother's second marriage failed, but on the third, she gathered up the younger children of the first marriage (whom took their stepfather's name, at least for a short time), and had three more.
When you look at the entire story it is even more amazing, put together from computer records enhancing almost-lost memories of an elder relative...
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