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chicago divorce process - Chicago Illinois Family Law Blog

First Recorded Divorce in U.S. History Tells a Common Tale

By Nottage and Ward on January 9, 2012

According to History.com, the first recorded divorce in the American colonies was that of Anne Clarke and her husband Denis Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on January 5, 1643. The divorce was granted by the Quarter Court of Boston, MA on the grounds that Denis Clarke abandoned his wife to be with another woman. In a signed affidavit, Denis Clark admitted to having done just that. He and Anna Clarke had two children; he also had two children with the other woman. In the affidavit, he also stated his refusal to return to his original wife. As a result, the Puritan court had no choice but to grant a divorce to Anne Clarke, and punish her absent and adulterous husband.

Although divorce was treated with more severity in the past than it is now, this first recorded divorce highlights an important commonality in the reasons for divorce. The system by which the divorce was carried out in 1643 may be different than the system in 2012, but the reasons for the divorce, adultery and abandonment, are not uncommon today. There are many reasons why a couple may file for divorce in modern times, but the most frequent include:

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