Every person wants to know as much as possible about his or her ancestors. As the formal study of family history, genealogy has become a passion for many amateurs as well as professionals. This science relies extensively on written sources which include all sorts of public records. The divorce records can be extremely valuable sources of information. That is why they are included in virtually every research. Find out more about their use.
Information Scope
All divorce records are based on legal documents issued by courts and other authorities. The information contained in them is absolutely accurate. The risk of errors is reduced to the very possible minimum. They are well protected from loss, theft and malicious amendment.
The number of details present in these records varies from one state to another. There may be differences between counties as well. In some places, it is possible for the former spouses to request some or most of the information to remain private.
The information which a genealogist can expect to find in any record of divorce includes the names of the spouses and the date of the event along with the date of the marriage. This makes it easy to calculate how long the couple has been married for. The more detailed records contain the ages, birth dates and addresses of the spouses. This can be quite useful for finding more about their life after the split. If the records are really thorough, they will also have the names and birth dates of the couple’s children. This information is more than valuable for the creation of a family tree.
It is worth noting that divorce records have time limitations. This is because such events were quite uncommon before the start of the twentieth century. In many communities, this practice remained unacceptable until much later.
Information Extraction
It is now perfectly possible to access the records which you require directly online. You can get all the information which is present in the paper record in digital form. This should be perfectly sufficient for your research. It is extremely important that you write down all details carefully. You have to be extra careful not to misspell names. If you require copies of the documents, you will have to send a written request and pay a small fee.
Given their easy accessibility, divorce records are extremely widely used in genealogy. Once you extract the required information from them, you can use it for further research deeper down into the history of your family.