Nancy, The fact that "another woman" is named is meaningless. In New York until c. 1966, the only grounds for divorce was adultery. There were women who made a good living just posing would-be divorces in the entrance to a hotel room. It actually got so bad in Quuens before the law was changed that a judge announced no more divorces would be granted with that woman in the picture, which was supposed to prove the adultery. There are of course real stories. I recently got divorce papers from Massachusetts where the wife lived. They were fascinating, as not only was the husband accused of adultery, but it was proven that he had even remarried--without benefit of divorce. By the time the first wife caught up with him, he also had a child from the second marriage. The husband's own brother-in-law testified against him (husband of groom's sister). The divorce records included certifications of both marriages. Barbara Dick Hillenbrand <nygenes@gmail.com> wrote: Nancy, I ran into a similar situation once and will relate a possible work around. First of all I really like Cliff's answer and would trust it implicitly, see how he takes the bull by the horns! He is full of wisdom and I value any comment from Cliff greatly. Now just in case you still get stonewalled by a clerk somewhere, here is another approach. "Divorce Records are Sealed!" So we're always told. That's true but before the divorce took place there were almost ALWAYS preliminary court appearances in which the nasty details got aired in public, and those records are NOT sealed. What you have to do is quite a bit of detective work, but they are open to the public. The cases might show spousal abuse, or infidelity, (the norm,) or for what ever reasons, and the court appearances will appear in the "Index to Civil Cases," (or a title close to that,) and you will usually find those huge index books in the County Clerk's Office. Once you find the names in the index, (surnames only,) and it is a little difficult and takes a lot of snooping, especially if it is "SMITH vs SMITH." You then can look at a copy of the transcript of the case and it will be VERY interesting. All the juicy details, the "other woman," is named, (probaly other man also but never have found a case yet,) and who witnessed the situation , addresses, dates, times, witness testimony, and so on. Better that television! I doubt many people are aware of this, but it will make for interesting reading. Good luck. Dick Hillenbrand On 2/1/07, Nancy Davis wrote: > > Hello all. Has anyone pursued "divorce papers" from somewhere around 1892 > - 1900. This could be a date of filing to the whole file; I really don't > care other than to confirm or deny there was a divorce or petition for a > divorce. I'm guessing - if true - the filing would have been in Westchester > Cty, Bronx Cty, NYC or Brooklyn. If you know where (or if) these records > are retained and how to access them, I will be most appreciative. Thanks > much, Nancy > *************************************** > Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ > *************************************** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Dick Hillenbrand Upstate New York Genealogy website: http://www.unyg.com blog: http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/ member: Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) *************************************** Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ *************************************** ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Barbara L. de Mare, Esq. Historian, genealogist and attorney 155 Polifly Road Hackensack, New Jersey 07601 (201) 567-9440 office BarbaradeMare@yahoo.com (home) http://historygenealogyesq.blogspot.com/