It was not all that uncommon for self-divorce, when they would just end it with out courts due largely , I suppose to lack of law in the frontier areas, However if proven or accused of bigamy /polygamy was still even in those days publicly unacceptable, due our European culture and English law, which spawned our law system. I would suspect though that polygamy was not tolerated in the religious circles at all, due there religious beliefs & customs, where that the churches were more prevalent than the common law. Divorce on the other hand was nothing near as common as today or even 100 years ago, and not easy to obtain for a woman. Like wise as to the old English law, a man pretty much owned his wife and could do with her for the most part as he seen fit. And due to the laws of land ownership & economic climate of the day & social perception & church teachings, few sought for divorce. An unmarried woman in the 1800's and prior stood to face a very difficult life with odds stacked very heavy against her. Jered **************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)

You're right, bigamy wasn't officially condoned. What was going on wasn't properly bigamy; it was just that people weren't observing the legal formalities. I've heard of people who were caught serving jail time, often because teh aggrieved first spouse complained. But most often, one way or another, people got away with it. We ahve discussions about this on the Black Sheep list alot. Formally it's bigamy, so it's an automatic black sheep qualifier. Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 8:06 AM Subject: Re: [PaOldC] divorce Vs bigamy > It was not all that uncommon for self-divorce, when they would just end > it > with out courts due largely , I suppose to lack of law in the frontier > areas, > However if proven or accused of bigamy /polygamy was still even in those > days > publicly unacceptable, due our European culture and English law, which > spawned our law system. I would suspect though that polygamy was not > tolerated in > the religious circles at all, due there religious beliefs & customs, > where > that the churches were more prevalent than the common law. Divorce on the > other hand was nothing near as common as today or even 100 years ago, and > not > easy to obtain for a woman. Like wise as to the old English law, a man > pretty > much owned his wife and could do with her for the most part as he seen > fit. > And due to the laws of land ownership & economic climate of the day & > social > perception & church teachings, few sought for divorce. An unmarried woman > in > the 1800's and prior stood to face a very difficult life with odds > stacked > very heavy against her. Jered > **************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 > or > less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message