[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] divorce

[gpvjem]

    Although I have done data input for a small number of Lutheran marriages in Poland, relative to Al's work, he has summed up the situation fully and clearly.  As in the case below I usually assume that the first spouse probably died prior to the second marriage and that the death record has not yet been located.  Interestingly, I have also encountered some long term "common law" marriages.

John Marsch

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  What I am seeing is that  the first spouse lived from 1815-1877 and the
  marriage date was Oct 22, 1833.  Then there is a second marriage date of
  April 29, 1842 for a second spouse.  That is why I am wondering about
  divorce in that time period.  Thank you
  Delores

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: <AlbertMuth at aol.com>
  To: <Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 7:38 AM
  Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] divorce


  > I would say no, divorce was not common.  When anyone marries, his/her
  > social status is clearly indicated in the record: single, widowed,
  divorced.
  > Unwed mothers are also clearly designated.
  >
  > Divorce records for Lutherans in Russian Poland do not appear in the
  > LDS catalog.  Marginal notes in some marriage records show that the
  > marriage ended in divorce, a year is given, and the religious court (?)
  > is usually Plock.  This is not to say that each parish did not maintain
  > separate records of their divorced couples.  In one early Plock film, I
  > remember seeing a separate section (in addition to the usual births,
  > marriages, and deaths) where, in one year, three divorces were
  > recorded.
  >
  > Does this mean that every parish maintained a separate yearly book
  > for divorces?  Perhaps, but judging by what I see in the online catalog
  > of the Polish archives http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.eng.php
  > this would be minimal.  Only a handful of places are shown.
  >
  > Desertion seems to be as common, perhaps more so.  In my
  > transcriptions, I do not usually record spouse desertions.  There is
  > a phrase (I am writing from memory, so the Polish may be imperfect):
  > z pobyle niewiadomego, which roughly translated, means "whereabouts
  > unknown".  The phrase may be used to refer to a parent of a bride/
  > bridegroom, or of a married woman who has a child by some other
  > man (whose name is seldom given). In the latter case, it often states
  > how long the absent husband has been gone.
  >
  > One case that occurs somewhat frequently is that of the married woman
  > whose husband is off serving in the Russian army.   For whatever reason,
  > "while the cat is away, the mouse will play..." and, oops, there's a baby.
  > I have often wondered what the end to this story might be.
  >
  > If you see in the Pedigree Database that one individual remarries,
  > yet the deathdate of the previous spouse is not given, this probably
  > *ONLY* means that the death records have not been extracted.  Or,
  > if they were, that (1) the person may have died somewhere else
  > while on a visit, or (2) the death was recorded in a Catholic parish,
  > rather than the Lutheran one, or vice-versa.  Some parishes record
  > the death date of a deceased spouse when the widower or widow
  > remarries, but many do not.  Most record the name of a deceased
  > spouse, but not all do.
  >
  > In any case, if you have questions about the film source for exact
  > dates found in the Pedigree Database (whose source is SGGEE001,
  > SGGEE002, etc), you can contact databases at sggee.org
  > and they can give the exact film reference.  When SGGEE sends
  > members a gedcom with database information on their families, the
  > gedcom *does* include source information of this sort for all individuals.
  > To find it, you need to know the ins and outs of your genealogy software.
  > If you don't seem to find any source information on 19th century dates,
  > ask yourself:  how old is my software?
  >
  > Al Muth
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