Hello Everyone,

I am not familiar with Virginia divorce petition procedures, but a few years
ago on a North Carolina list a poster provided some information found at an
LDS library in Florida on some information in the "boxes" involved in divorce
petitions in North Carolina during a period I believe was the early 1800s.  I
could not find this information again from the archives readily on the three or
four lists on which I thought it had been posted.

However, I would like to make a couple of points, larger legal issues and
procedures aside.

First, the obvious is that the finding of a divorce case can "solve"
genealogy issues, such as how does Mr. X show up in Tennessee without his wife, Sarah?
 Is Sarah X still in North Carolina his wife or daughter or daughter-in-law?
This is one of many avenues, such as chancery court cases, that aren't
immediately apparent to researchers.  My impression, though, is that children
weren't perhaps named in such cases routinely.

Second, NC petitions, if I recall correctly, were considered by legislative
committees before being presented for a vote to the entire body.  This
consideration included interviews/affadavits of the petitioner and his/her spouse's
supporters.  I have been given to understand that in North Carolina, at least,
at the State Archives there are  files for each case which in some cases
include transcripts of interviews, affadavits or at least lists of these supporters.
 This too can be valuable information regarding neighbors, other family
members in the area, or perhaps elsewhere if an affadavit was submitted from
another jurisdiction, etc.   I would imagine that the contents of the boxes, like
probate folders in various counties, vary in their completeness.

Third, again if memory serves correctly, there is an index of sorts for these
cases which names the parties to the marriage, dates, box reference numbers.
 At the NC State Archives, most of their original documents are in files
combined with other files in boxes much like those at the National Archives that
carry the original purchase agreements (as opposed to the actual certificates
online at the BLM website) for land grants in the states such as Missouri,
Arkansas, etc. which are divided into Range, Township, and Sections.

Best Regards,
Janet (Baugh) Hunter

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