My divorce story is as follows : Charles Robert Jennings was born in Braidwood in 1867 by the late 1880s he had moved to the Central Coast, his occupation was listed as a sawyer. He married Mabyn Bridge (aged 17) in Newcastle in 1892. They settled in settled in Wyong & they had 4 children. Mabyn was not happy in the marriage and she eventually left her husband & 4 young kids in 1903 & moved to Sydney and lived with an uncle. Charles followed her and asked that she return home with him but she did not want to & refused. He then went to a solicitor & commenced divorce proceedings. Mabyn went on to have a relationship with an Edward Jarman & had at least 2 children, she then m. Charles Edward McGovern in 1919. At some time after Mabyn left, Charles engaged a housekeeper, Helena Bridget Smith (from Wollombi) to care for the young children. A relationship developed but Charles & Helena could not marry as Charles was still trying to obtain a divorce. Charles & Helena eventually moved in together and started their own family in 1905. They had 6 children all born at Wyong including my Grandma, Florence Lucy. Eventually Charles & Mabyns marriage was dissolved in 1916 at the Supreme Court of NSW and Charles & Helena were free to marry. They married at the Registry Office in Sydney a few days later and returned to their home in Wyong, their children were not aware of what had happened, although they remembered their parents going off on a holiday to Sydney. In the 1920s the children were legitimised and of the children were duly baptised in 1921. Often the clue of "divorce" is on a marriage certificate. Following the advice of Angela Phippen from SAG a few years back, I followed the divorce through and located their Decree Absolute & Decree Nisi in the Sydney Morning Herald. It provided that Charles was the petitioner and gives the name of the Judge. I then checked at State Records for the Judge's Notebook, which is free. It supplied a basic transcript of the case and provided me with a lot more background information about the divorce. One can also contact the Supreme Court, Family Law Division & seek permission to see the original records. There is a fee for retreiving these records. I have not followed this up as yet but have been told that although there is a lot of legal jargon they are worth checking out. _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail