HATCHER website: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/faq.htm HATCHER DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hatDNA.htm HALL DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hall/HDNAtest.htm Researching: Cook, Hall, Hatcher, Miller, Shepherd, Timberman "Genealogy without Documentation is Nothing" - Paul Drake Below is my example of a divorce petition from NC. Note that she filed in 1811 and was not granted a divorce but just a separation. At the same time, her husband can be found in OH with a new "wife" (no marriage record found) and with kids born from 1808 and on. So we are not looking at a nice neat situation here where a divorce is granted and the parties then remarry. This example has often made me wonder how many of our ancestors simply left a first wife, heading far enough away to avoid being found, and living without benefit of marriage with the "2nd wife." With divorce laws being that restrictive, I'm sure that many found ways around it and makes one wonder if our early "pioneers" were really as interested in finding new frontiers as they were in getting away from a spouse. That's just a bit of tongue in cheek :-) Cheers, Nel Hatcher ----------------------- The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal Volume XXII, No. 3, August 1996 Committee of Divorce & Alimony to whom following petitions were referred... Margaret Hatcher of Buncombe County... report that the petitions are respectively entitled to relief and recommend a bill accompanying this Report be passed into Law. In Senate (13 December) and House of Commons (17 December), read and concurred with. Bill to secure to persons therein mentioned such property as they may hereafter acquire.... In House of Commons (19 December), read second time and passed. In Senate (20 December), read third time and passed. (General Assembly Session Reports Nov.-Dec. 1811, Box 1, folder: "Senate Bill 13 Dec.".) Laws of North Carolina, November-December 1811 Session. The persons on each line below, except those preceded by the letter "D", were entitled to hold, possess and enjoy, in their sole right, all such estate, either real or personal, as they may hereafter acquire by industry, purchase, gift or otherwise, in as full and ample manner as if they had never been married. The persons whose names are preceded by a "D" were granted full divorces from each other. HATCHER, Margaret of Buncombe County; husband unnamed, page 38 [Note: Margaret was not granted a full divorce, but only a separation] To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html