Divorced, Bigamist, Bereaved?: The family historian’s guide to marital breakdown, separation, widowhood, and remarriage: from 1600 to the 1970s

Following on from her book about marriage law for genealogists the question of ending a marriage arises, and here is the source of much useful information on the various ways a marriage might have ended. How exactly could you get a divorce? Would an annulment be a better bet? If you were separated what were your rights? If it was thought a first spouse was dead, how soon could the widow/widower remarry? And what happened if the first spouse reappeared? Why has bigamy become even rarer? It must be noted that this book concerns historical situations, not necessarily the current law on any of these issues.As an addition, I have recently found a case of bigamy in a family tree, which I would never have uncovered had I not read this book - 130 years ago the man abandoned wife and children in London, went to Canada and a few years later married again in Canada without getting a divorce first, or indeed at all. His view was probably that Canada was a long way off and who would ever know? It doesn't seem to have affected the family in Canada - the second "wife" was treated as a widow and got all his property. Perhaps she did not know about wife number 1.

Unusual subject but essential background for those doing family history. Bought for a Family History Society library

Everything a genealogist needs to know.

Nearly everyone who starts investigating their family tree will come across one family where the records for births, marriages and death are rather confusing. This book provides a good overview of how the laws and social mores around marriage changed over a time period of about 500 years and it helped me understand a muddy part of my family tree. It is written more in the style of a text book than an easy read, but that is what makes it so useful

Excellent book gives a great deal of information for the family historian in unravelling marital arrangements found in research. It is a great companion to Rebecca's first book on Marriage Law.

Informative easy read.

Brilliant for helping to untangle family marriage data

Good read.