Premarital Divorce? What?

Well, now I'm confused. While at the WMU Archives in Kalamazoo, I went hunting for more divorce records, this time for Cass county, Michigan.

Before I entered the archives I had information from a Civil War pension application file that told the following fragmentary tale. Once upon a time Gaylord Brown married Lydia Whitcomb. Then Gaylord's brother, Fernando, caught Lydia's fancy. She jilted Gaylord and married Fernando. In an attempt to corroborate this information I searched databases at Family Search. I found a marriage return for Gaylord and Lydia stating the date of marriage was 24 July 1881. A marriage return for Lydia and Fernando provided a date of marriage of 11 Jun 1893.

When I went to the WMU archives I wanted to find divorce records, particularly the bills of complaint for Gaylord's divorce from Lydia as well as Fernando's divorce from his first wife. I hoped these records might shed light on the circumstances of Lydia's defection. The first thing I discovered was that only the divorce decrees were available for Cass county on the microfilm at the archives. I need to find out if the bills of complaint still exist and are locked away somewhere where I can someday access them.

Although I didn't discover all I hoped for I did gain some information, but as usual, I was left with more questions than answers. Instead of finding a single divorce decree for Gaylord and Lydia I found two. That was a surprise, but that wasn't all. As I added the information to my family tree software I discovered that, Gaylord and Lydia divorced (12 Jul 1881) before they even married (24 Jul 1881). Clearly this is wrong.

So what is going on here? I still need to figure it out, but I have a few ideas. First of all, I'll believe the divorce date of 13 Jul 1881. It comes from the microfilm of the original court record signed by the judge (a primary source of the information). Now the question is, is the marriage return correct? Unfortunately, I don't have sufficient information to make that determination. The marriage return is a derivative record, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is wrong. The return was filed 16 Feb 1882 and it is certainly possible that whoever recorded the information here transcribed it incorrectly. However, as there are two divorce records (the later one provides a divorce date of 27 Feb 1893), it is theoretically possible that within days of their divorce becoming final that Gaylord and Lydia remarried. Hey, I didn't say that makes much sense, but stranger things have happened.

So, if we accept the first divorce date of 13 Jul 1881 then it must mean that Gaylord and Lydia were married prior to that date, and at least as early as 13 June 1881 when Lydia filed the bill of complaint. Unfortunately, I have failed to find an earlier record of marriage for this pair of lovebirds. While vexing, the lack of a record isn't a complete surprise to me. Although civil registration began in Michigan in 1867, I have found that for the first couple of decades afterward some records didn't seem to make it onto the official rolls.

The 1880 census is likewise unenlightening. Gaylord Brown does not appear in the census in Cass county, but a Joseph Brown born in 1843 in NY (the right information for Gaylord) is living in the appropriate area of the county with his wife, Lydia. Census enumerations being what they are, I can't conclude anything from an entry like that.

So, where does this leave me? Well, it leaves me in Tennessee, nine to ten hours away from any records that might settle this, assuming the records still exist. I suppose it will supply me with ample time (in theory) to compose some hypotheses and plan my attack for the next time I'm in the area. That's genealogy for you.

Kalamazoo County Circuit Court Records

My recent trip to Kalamazoo was fun, productive and tiring. With so much to do I had very little down time, but that's the way it usually is when I go home. Genealogically speaking, I was able to cross a number of things off my list. One big thing was to look at the court records relating to the Christmas morning murder of my grandma's sister (Christmas Morning Murderer Gets Off Easy). I'll describe what I found later because I still haven't had time to read everything over and process it. For now I'll share a few tips for finding old circuit court records in Kalamazoo based on my recent experience.

The circuit court records I was looking for were criminal cases or chancery cases (divorces and other cases in which a judge had to determine what was fair in a dispute between two parties). If you want to examine records for either of these types of cases the first thing you will need to do is to find the docket and case number. Depending on the year in which the case was filed you will need to look in the clerk's office at the court house on Kalamazoo avenue or in the index at the WMU Archives. Here are the lessons I learned while tracking down records.

Always look in the index yourself. While at the court house I asked to examine the chancery index book to search for a few divorce cases. The clerk brought out one book, but not ones covering other years I was interested in. Instead, she asked me for the specific names I was looking for and came back to inform me she couldn't find them. I thought that was strange, but didn't press the issue as I was out of time. The following day at the WMU Archives, I was searching the chancery index on microfilm looking for any cases involving my people. I wanted to jump out of my chair when found two of the divorce cases the court clerk said she couldn't find. Though the microfilmed chancery records at WMU only go into 1934, and therefore I couldn't immediately satisfy my curiosity, the index goes through at least May 1941. The names I was looking for were clearly written so I can only conclude that the court clerk was in a hurry and overlooked them. As we genealogists are more used to searching for certain names (and can pick one out even when we aren't looking for it) always ask to look in the index yourself, rather than relying on someone who has nothing invested in the project.

Circuit court records are not always on site. Old records (prior to 1980) still in possession of the Kalamazoo county circuit court are located “six hours north” of Kalamazoo. So, if you want to look at them you need to plan ahead. Armed with the docket and case number from the index you can request that the records be retrieved from wherever in the upper peninsula they are stored. I guess in the case of a nuclear holocaust they will be safe. You should request the documents about a week in advance and keep in mind that deliveries are received on Tuesdays. Even at the WMU archives, old court records that have not been microfilmed are located off site so you should ask that records be pulled in advance of your visit.

Not all chancery cases were microfilmed by the LDS. A year ago I found out the hard way that the LDS church did not microfilm all chancery cases. You can imagine my surprise when I scrolled through the microfilmed records at the WMU Archives only to discover that the case number I was seeking was notably absent. It seems that the LDS selected divorce cases or those in which the names of the parties involved were different for microfilming. I had two cases in which a mother sued her kids (it turns out they were mooching or stealing from her). The records were available, but had to be retrieved from storage. Unfortunately, I was at the end of my visit. I waited in suspense for my mother to return to the Archives to peruse the documents and call me to tell me what the cases were about.

Be prepared to take a lot of notes or bring a lot of cash. The court house does not allow cameras. I don't know if mobile scanners are permitted. This is unfortunate as copy charges at the court house are pretty steep at $1 per page. After quickly flipping through the files I requested I carefully flagged items for copying and handed the stack of records to one of the clerks. Much to my dismay she informed me that copying of the court stenographer's record was all or nothing. I could not cherry pick pages for copying. As I was pressed for time, had found many things I wanted to examine more closely and I had already waited a whole year to see the records and could not come to the courthouse whenever I had a spare moment, I pulled some more money from my wallet.  I would also recommend that you count the number of pages you wish to have copied so you know exactly how much it should cost.  And be sure to inform the clerk that you do NOT want certified copies because that costs more.

Now that I'm back home I hope to find the time, eventually, to thoroughly read over everything. I hope to find some useful information in the pages of the stenographer's record that I had not initially intended to copy. At least now I can pore over it at my leisure.

Husband, Schmusband: Divorce Records

Some of the more interesting records I have come across in my genealogy research are divorce records. By “interesting,” I mean juicy. Of the ten or so divorce records I have examined, all but one of them included some pretty “interesting” reading. There was the wife who “did not perform her marital duties,” nudge, nudge, wink, wink. There were many accusations that husbands and wives were carrying on with other people, if you know what I mean. I quote from one such case in which the husband stated that his wife "disregarding the solemnity of the marriage relations. . . indulged in violent sallies of passion."  There were even a few in which the husbands were accused of occasionally being physically abusive.

I should note that the records I have perused encompass the first 25 years or so of the 20^th century. Divorce was becoming more common, but it was still difficult to obtain a divorce in those days and some states had stricter laws than others. Grounds for divorce at the time were limited and included cruelty and abandonment. No-fault divorce was only introduced in 1970, first appearing in California. Therefore, it is important to remember that some claims may have been exaggerated to increase the odds of obtaining the divorce.

My family, not to be left out of a current trend, jumped on the bandwagon. Divorce seems to have been a way of life for one group of sisters in my tree. Between the three of them they married a total of twelve times and divorced eight times (another husband died and one deserted). One of these records even cleared up the mystery of why I could not find one of these women in the 1900 census. While the divorce complaint itself contained nothing to tell me why the marriage broke up (she just moved out), it did include the name my relative married under. It was time to create a new spouse in my family tree and hunt her down in the census (success at last).

The winner for most husbands in the shortest period of time goes to Ada Wallace who married five times in total. She seems to have gone through husbands like a snake sheds its skin. She married for the first time when she was just fourteen to a man 29 years her senior, Charles Hoard. Five children and 15 years later she apparently left her husband. Unfortunately, only the final divorce decrees exist for this time period in Branch county, Michigan so I don't know the details. Next she married George Alger to whom she remained married for 4.5 years. Their divorce records indicated that her husband, George, periodically went away for days at a time. When he did, Ada sometimes went out dancing (all night) with Charley Carr. Barely a month after the ink had dried on her divorce papers Ada married husband #3, who surprisingly, (to me, at least) was not Charles Carr, but Henry Miner. Within six months he was also history. A year and a half later she married husband #4 and again the marriage lasted about six months before the court approved her fourth divorce. Again, Ada had been seeing Charley Carr, who even spent the night (when her husband was gone) according to the landlady. A year later she finally married Charles Carr, and to her credit, remained married to him for thirty-four years until his death. I can't help but wonder why she married husband #3 (who was not mentioned in the divorce records with George Alger) or even husband #4 if she was frequently going dancing with Charley. Was she trying to make him jealous? Or at ten years her junior did she think he was just too young to marry? I'll probably never know.

One question that might come to mind after finding so many divorces is why some of these women married so often. It is easy to snicker, but it is useful to remember that although times were changing, women still didn't have many options. These probably included moving in with a relative and/or getting a job, becoming a domestic servant or getting remarried.

So, now that I have piqued your interest, where can you find divorce records for counties in southwest Michigan?

Records can be found at:

WMU Archives: chancery records (which include divorces) for Kalamazoo and many neighboring counties which may include: Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Muskegon, Ottawa, St. Joseph, and Van Buren . To make sure they have the records covering the county and time period of interest I recommend contacting them to ask before planning a visit.

Van Buren District Library: Allegan, Cass and Van Buren (on microfilm)

Kalamazoo county court house (201 W. Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI): chancery records starting about 1934 (earlier records are at the WMU archives).  For a practical guide to viewing records here (what's onsite, copy costs, etc.) be sure to read my post about doing research at the court house.

Your first step will be to consult the index (usually on microfilm). Be sure to select the roll with the year range in which you believe the divorce occurred. While indexes may be organized differently, the ones I have seen (Kalamazoo county) are organized as follows. For each initial letter of a surname there are many pages broken down into names beginning with the same two or three letters (e.g. Gary, Gardner, Garson, etc.). I advise starting in the appropriate section, but don't despair if you don't find the record you are looking for. I have frequently seen names entered in the wrong section so you may want to peruse all pages for that initial if you aren't already woozy from staring at microfilm for too long. If all else fails check a different year range or a different county.

Once you have identified the record, be sure to take note of the item number or any other information in the index. The last thing you want to do is hunt for the entry again. While you are already there, be sure to note any other court cases pertaining to your family. You never know what you might uncover. Armed with this information you can select the appropriate roll of microfilm and scroll through the records until you find the correct case number. If you are lucky the file will include both the initial complaint as well as a cross bill (so you can read both sides of the story). While a divorce is probably never fun it can make for interesting reading and above all, teach you more about your relative's life and character.

If you would like to know more about divorce around the turn of the century, including acceptable grounds, you may want to read The Rise of Divorce in Michigan.