Divorce or marital status
If you are looking for divorce records or the marital status of an individual, they can be found through the documents listed below. In general, it is difficult to check for a divorce or remarriage unless you already have an idea of when it may have happened. If you have the minimum information required to find one of the documents in the list, select the name of that document. The items in the list are ordered from most to least important. If you do not have the minimum information required, read the paragraph below this list.
Make sure to check photo albums, scrapbooks, diaries, and family Bibles at home. See the topic Finding information at home for more information. Also check for local histories. See the topic Finding previous research.
Finding divorce or marital status with vital records
A marriage certificate is a good place to check for marital status because it will show any previous marriages if they existed. A vital records office may also have other documents which can help you figure out an individual's marital status: marriage intentions, marriage applications, marriage contracts or settlements, and marriage returns. In addition, vital records offices have divorce records that can give you exact divorce dates. To get the address where you must write to obtain any of these vital records, see the topic Resources by state.
When looking for marriage records, many people use computerized marriage records indexes to help them find the record that they need. Some libraries have computerized marriage records indexes.
Finding the minimum information for a vital record
To get a copy of a vital record, you must at least know the full married name of one of the spouses for a divorce certificate or the full name of the groom and/or the full maiden name of the bride for a marriage certificate. You must also know the approximate year of the event, and the state or county where the event took place.
Get help finding some of the minimum information by selecting one of the following items:
Even if you don't have the minimum information required to find the original records, you're not completely out of luck. Indexes to vital records have been made for some states and counties. These indexes provide you with the information you need to access the original record. Check with libraries and genealogy societies in the area -- they may know if any indexes exist for the records that you need.
Ancestry also has marriage records.
Finding divorce or marital status with church records
Church records may also give you clues to an individual's marital status. Of course, marriage certificates tell you whether or not an individual ever married, and more than one marriage certificate tells you that a death or divorce took place in the family. Other church records can also give you clues. For example, baptism and christening records normally list both parents' names. If children in the same family have different parents' names on their baptism certificates, then it may be that there was a divorce and second marriage.
The books listed below can help you locate your ancestors' church records by telling you who currently has the records belonging to your ancestors' church. You can find these books in a public or genealogical library. Depending on the book that you use, you can look up either the name of your ancestors' church or the name of the clergyman and find out who currently has the records belonging to your ancestors' church. Of course, if you live close to your ancestors' church, you should go directly to the church and ask the staff for assistance in locating the records that you need.
- The Handbook of American Denominations, by Frank Mead
- The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches and Reformed Churches , edited by the National Council of Churches
- List of Historical Records Survey Publications , by the Works Projects Administration
- State Historical Records Surveys , by the Works Projects Administration
Once you locate the records that belong to your ancestors' church, the current custodian of the records should be able to direct you in your search for the marriage, baptism, or christening record that you need.
Another good place to look for both American and foreign church records is among the microfilm records at the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their church records are organized first by state, then county, and then town. Unless the town that you are searching for had very few churches, knowing a denomination will make your search easier.
Finding the minimum information for church records
To get a copy of a church record, you must at least know the individual's name, and either the name of the church where the ceremony was performed or the name of the clergyman that appears on the certificate.
Get help finding the minimum information for:
If you can find out the denomination of your ancestor's religion, you can try contacting all of the churches of that denomination in the area where you believe your ancestor lived. If they have records from the corresponding time period, they should be able to tell you whether or not your ancestor was a church member. If their records do not go back far enough, they may be able to tell you if any other churches of that denomination existed in the area at the time and where their records may be.
Marriage certificates from vital records offices often list a clergyman's name, so if you can find the marriage certificate for one marriage, you may be able to locate the record of a second marriage from your ancestors' church. If you suspect a second marriage, the records at your church may be able to verify the existence of another marriage. The same applies to a death certificate: it often lists a clergyman's name. To get a marriage or death certificate, you must know at least the full name of the groom and/or the maiden name of the bride for a marriage, or the full name of the deceased for a death, the approximate date of the event, and the state or county of the event, depending on when it took place. If you have this minimum information, see the topic Resources by state.
Finding divorce or marital status with newspapers
Wedding announcements indicate that a marriage took place. If you can find more than one wedding announcement for an individual, then you know that a second marriage took place, either due to a divorce or to the death of a spouse. The nice part about finding out about a second marriage through the newspapers is that it will also give you a few details about the new spouse. However, finding a second wedding announcement can be tricky unless you already have an idea of when the second wedding took place. Otherwise, you will have to search through many years of newspapers.
The directories listed below will help you find the current owners of old newspapers from the time and place when the wedding announcement was published. If the individual spoke a foreign language, check to see if there was a newspaper in that language, too. Once you have located the current owners, you can request to search the appropriate copies. The current owners should be able to direct you in your search.
- Ayer Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals, available at most community libraries.
- Winifred Gregory's American Newspaper, available at community and genealogical libraries
The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) microfiche. The OCLC has a database of the U.S. Newspaper Program National Union List. You can access the OCLC at most university libraries and some community libraries.
Finding the minimum information for newspapers
To get a copy of a wedding announcement, you must at least know the approximate date of the event, the full name of groom and/or the maiden name of the bride, and the state and city or town where the marriage took place (or where the announcement was likely to have been published).
Get help finding some of the minimum information by selecting one of the following items:
Finding divorce or marital status with Bible records
A family's Bible records usually include all marriages that take place in a family. In addition, to marriages, however, they may include divorces. When you find information in actual Bibles, check the publication date of the Bible. If the Bible was printed, for example, in 1871, but a marriage is recorded for 1851, you know that the date of that particular marriage was not written down at the time of the marriage, but was written down several years later. Dates recorded after the fact are less likely to be accurate.
When you cannot find family Bibles among your own family members, check with genealogical societies in the area where the family lived. They may have or be aware of the location of local Bible records. Make sure to search both under the maiden name and married name.
Next, search through the transcribed Bible records belonging to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). These transcribed Bible records are available at the DAR library in Washington, D.C., local DAR chapters, and on microfilm through the Family History Centers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. See the topic Libraries with a National Focus, Including LDS for information about these two libraries.
Finding the minimum information for Bible records
To find a divorce or subsequent marriage in Bible records that are no longer in the family's possession, you must at least know the individual's full married name or maiden name, as well as the state and county in which the individual lived.
Get help finding some of the minimum information by selecting one of the following items:
Finding divorce or marital status with military records
A Veteran's Benefit record may list the name of the veteran's spouse and the date of the marriage. To get the address where you must write to obtain a military record, go to the topic Researching through military records, and see the category "Veterans' Records."
Finding the minimum information for military records
To find an individual's marital status in a military pension record, you must at least know the veteran's name, the branch of service, such as Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, the state from which the veteran entered the service, and the war in which the veteran served. If the period of service was after 1916, you must also know entry and release dates, military ID number, Social Security number, whether an officer or enlisted, and date of birth.
Get help finding the minimum information for:
If you aren't sure of the military branch or of the approximate time when the veteran served, look for military memorabilia an photos taken in uniform. These items can give you the information you need.