My friends - I am dropping by to give you the solution to our latest Skills Puzzler which was on the subject of divorce records. You will recall that our scenario involved Asa and Agnes Spratt. Asa, according to the family story, left home on business one day and never returned. A couple of years later, we found Agnes remarrying, using her maiden name. Our task was to find a divorce record document that established that Agnews divorced Asa, and was given the right to return to her maiden name, prior to remarrying. Research in the court records in her home county and in the surrounding counties produced nothing. The question, at that point, is "Where can we go next to search for this divorce?" Only 4 people responded to this Puzzler, and several of those hit upon the answer. In KY, prior to the overall reorganization of the State legal structure in 1850, divorces were granted primarily by the KY State Legislature. By 1821, the State had given the circuit courts the right to hear such cases, but, until 1850, these circuit courts routinely passed such cases on to the State Legislature, at which point, a "Special Act" was introduced by the appropriate representative, and the divorce was usually granted. By researching the "Legislative Acts" reports of the 1826-1828 legislative sessions, a divorce was found for Agnes, as well as the declaration that she was allowed to resume the use of her maiden name. Realistically, finding divorces granted by the State Legislature is difficult at best, very time consuming and often frustrating. As one of our very astute subscribers pointed out to me yesterday, these divorce cases turn up just as often in some unindexed court case file bundle in the counties. In 1850 and later, these cases became a matter of equity in many instances, and were therefore presented in the chancery court. It is, nevertheless, good for us to know where we can go to research these divorces. I will be posting something on KY divorces as part of the "Tips" series in the near future. -B ============================================================