Again from Mrs. Leary's work: Colony of NC: Divorce Impossible;legal separation by petition to General Court for separate maintenance, usually for desertion, but few in number. State of NC: Until 1814 divorce and separation by the General Assembly. 1814-1835, also by the superior courts of the several counties. By 1820 mostly by the courts. After 1835 only by the courts. I have seen a case where a husband abandoned his wife. The wife remarried without a divorce. The second marriage was eventually legalized by a petition to the legislature.