If anyone is able to answer this question, please do so on the list. I have one of those in my ancestry, too. In their wills, my grandparents referred to each other as common law spouse. My father said they had told him they registered as common law spouses. I've had no luck finding where this might have happened. They lived in Chicago, but did travel to other states. In fact, he died while they were on vacation in Florida in 1914. Original message: _MartinJo@lewisu.edu_ (mailto:MartinJo@lewisu.edu) writes: Would anyone know how to document a common law marriage? My great aunt Kathryn MARTIN was married in Pittsburgh, and her husband filed for divorce. But then he failed to show up for the court appearance, and so no divorce decree exists in the county file for them. She moved to Chicago about 1921 and met John RAAB about 1923, the year after he divorced his first wife. At some point John and Kathryn started a common law marriage. But how do I document that fact? I have a 1926 Chicago Tribune article about them in which John stated that they had been married for three years. I have photos of their tombstones which list them as husband and wife. I have her obituary which calls her the beloved wife of John. But the Cook County Court House could find no marriage record for them from 1922 when he was divorced to 1953 when Kathryn died. Any ideas about how to document their marriage?

In modern times, you would swear out an affidavit in front of a Notary Public that you were married as of a certain date. This affidavit could then be used to change your name on your social security card, drivers license, etc. A good place to look might be in deed records or wills. As far as noting it in your genealogy, just state the facts. Kathleen ----- Original Message ----- From: <LoisMSchill@aol.com> To: <cook-co-il@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 9:31 PM Subject: Re: [COOK-CO-IL] Documenting a common law marriage > > If anyone is able to answer this question, please do so on the list. I > have > one of those in my ancestry, too. In their wills, my grandparents > referred > to each other as common law spouse. My father said they had told him > they > registered as common law spouses. I've had no luck finding where this > might > have happened. They lived in Chicago, but did travel to other states. > In > fact, he died while they were on vacation in Florida in 1914. > > Original message: > _MartinJo@lewisu.edu_ (mailto:MartinJo@lewisu.edu) writes: > Would anyone know how to document a common law marriage? My great aunt > Kathryn MARTIN was married in Pittsburgh, and her husband filed for > divorce. But > then he failed to show up for the court appearance, and so no divorce > decree > exists in the county file for them. > > She moved to Chicago about 1921 and met John RAAB about 1923, the year > after > he divorced his first wife. At some point John and Kathryn started a > common > law marriage. But how do I document that fact? > > I have a 1926 Chicago Tribune article about them in which John stated > that > they had been married for three years. I have photos of their tombstones > which > list them as husband and wife. I have her obituary which calls her the > beloved wife of John. But the Cook County Court House could find no > marriage > record for them from 1922 when he was divorced to 1953 when Kathryn died. > > Any ideas about how to document their marriage? > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > COOK-CO-IL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I sent this information to Joe, here is the information from Cook County. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (750 ILCS 5/214) states that common law marriages contracted in Illinois after June 30, 1905 are invalid. A common law marriage was traditionally when a man and a woman lived together and held themselves out to the world as husband and wife for a certain period of time (such as seven or 14 years), and the law of the state in which they resided recognized them as husband and wife despite the lack of the formal legalities of marriage. I know that it did exist because I had to look up a divorce once that was between common law spouses, and I am sure the date was after 1905. So there might have been some exceptions, like if the marriage was from out of state and recognized in that other state. Considering your grandparents died in 1914 it is quite possible they were married legally under the previous common law statue in Illinois. Alice Fluegge --- LoisMSchill@aol.com wrote: > > If anyone is able to answer this question, please do > so on the list. I have > one of those in my ancestry, too. In their wills, > my grandparents referred > to each other as common law spouse. My father said > they had told him they > registered as common law spouses. I've had no luck > finding where this might > have happened. They lived in Chicago, but did > travel to other states. In > fact, he died while they were on vacation in Florida > in 1914. > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index