Certain states, counties and colonies had reputations as easy palaces to get a divorce. Strict laws in one state led to people migrating to areas where they could easily obtain a divorce. One such area was Ashtabula County in Ohio. Its close proximity to New York, Pennsylvania, and Ontario in Canada led to it becoming a popular place to get a divorce. As such, it granted many divorces to people who weren’t residents of the state. Chicago was also popular, granting over 400 divorces in 1868 alone.

An early divorce Mecca surprisingly was the state of Utah, where lax laws, inexpensive court costs, and no residency requirement led to many travelling there for the proceedings. The state finally tightened its divorce laws when too many out-of-state applicants began to swamp the Utah legal infrastructure. Another area that rose to prominence in granting divorces was Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 1890 the city was a major railroad hub, and the easy access, a residency requirement that allowed anyone resident in the state for more than 30 days to get a divorce, and an abundance of lawyers led many divorce seekers to flock there. An additional perk was that a defendant need not respond in order for a divorce to be granted.

Western states were particularly notorious for granting easy divorce. The divorce rate in such areas actually rose faster than in previously mentioned areas, even disregarding divorces granted to people who had migrated to them for the sole purpose of a divorce. The most common ground for divorce at that time was desertion, and many of those granted divorces were women who had left their husbands behind to migrate westwards. The majority of divorces though were filed by males, especially those whose wives did not join them on their journey west.

The extreme number of divorces granted in the late nineteenth century was very much responsible for the move to regulate and control divorce in later years. The good part for genealogists is that many records were created and the majority of been preserved. Below are the repositories for divorce records in each of the states and areas we’ve mentioned. They are a good source of genealogical data, especially for female ancestors who might otherwise be difficult to locate.

Ohio – Marriages were first recorded by Ohio county probate judges in 1797. A state-wide index of divorces was begun in 1949 and is maintained by the Department of Health in Columbus. Records can also be found in the original county courthouses, and many have been microfilmed.

Utah – Divorce records granted by the LDS Church between 1847 and 1852 are available only to descendants of the parties involved, and on a limited basis. Federal District Court divorces for cases between 1852 and 1896 have been put on microfilm and can be viewed at the Utah State Archives, or the US National Archives in Washington D.C.

South Dakota – Divorces in South Dakota have been under the jurisdiction of the county courts and must be obtained from the county for any divorce predating 1905. Divorce records from 1905 till present are kept at the South Dakota Department of Health in Pierre.

Nevada – County clerks un Nevada began recording marriages in 1860, and divorce cases were heard in the probate courts. The records may be found at the Nevada State Library and Archives in Carson City.

New Mexico – The Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe at the University of Mexico in Albuquerque have many records of marriage investigations spanning the years 1693-1846. They can be accessed at the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives

Find Your Relatives with a Family Ancestry Search

A family ancestry search for Oprah Winfrey reveals that she was born in the town of Kosciusko in Attalla County, Mississippi on January 29, 1954. She was born to a single mom – Vernita Lee – who gave Patricia (Oprah’s Sister) up for adoption. Patricia later conducted a family ancestry search with a view to finding her birth mother. To her complete surprise she discovered that her mom was the same Vernita Lee who had given birth to Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey’s sister, and Oprah herself, were both elated with Patricia’s discovery, and look forward to developing their relationship over the coming years.

Stories like Patricia and Oprah’s happen much more frequently than you may think. Because of her celebrity profile, the results of their family ancestry search are in the public eye. Many families however reunite with long lost siblings, cousins, parents and other kin on a daily basis, simply by diligently conducting a family ancestry search. Performing a family ancestry search can have rewarding results as you have seen, though it may take time to reap those rewards. Family ancestry research records must be found and their trail followed, but there are certain steps you can take to ensure you maximise the potential of your genealogical quest. The following list is designed to guide you through the beginning phases of your family ancestry search.

Family Ancestry Search Step 1 – Begin with Yourself – It is always recommended to begin your family ancestry search with yourself and the information you have on your immediate family. Don’t for instance begin with Oprah or any other celebrity and try to trace them back to you. You may end up with a colourful family history, but it will most likely not be your own!

Family Ancestry Search Step 2 – Verify Any Data You Find – When consulting genealogical databases during your family ancestry search, it is important that you verify any information you may uncover about your relatives. Many indexes contain transcriptions of original documentation, and therefore are susceptible to human error. Any records you may find should be authenticated by comparing it with original documentation.

Family Ancestry Search Step 3 – Get Organized Before You Begin – Organisation is vital to the success of any family ancestry search, as there is no point in accumulating a mass of data without knowing what you’ve got or how to find it. You don’t initially need much in the way of equipment; a filing system that works for you, some A4 binders, paper, clear plastic pockets, index cards, and a storage box will get you on your way.

Family Ancestry Search Step 4 – Be Patient and Ask for Help – A family ancestry search can be a long and arduous undertaking, but following the basic guidelines summarized above and practicing patience will ensure that the results of your family ancestry search will be accurate, thorough, and hopefully rewarding. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from other genealogists. There are many genealogical forums available online where anyone conducting a family ancestry search can avail themselves of the experience of seasoned researchers.

As Oprah Winfrey and her new-found sister have recently learned, the end result of a well conducted family ancestry search can reap huge returns. Being united with family that you may have lost touch with or didn’t even know existed is the core benefit of genealogy, and who knows, your family ancestry search may lead you to a celebrity relative. Watch out Hollywood, here we come!

• hearing something exciting about one of our ancestors, or
• if we have the same surname as someone famous – just to see if we might be related.

As we begin our search for our infidel ancestor or our wealthy relative, it is possible to come across some information that we rather wouldn’t have. This could be an ancestor being involved in criminal behaviour; murder, theft, fraud, etc, or something like illegitimacy, adoption or infidelity.

Some families will be unaffected by such a finding, others possibly delighted to detect a bit of colour in their otherwise conservative clan, while still some may be embarrassed and not know what to do with the information. At this point the genealogist becomes the bearer of bad news, and discernment is needed when handling any potentially damaging information. For instance, it could be very hurtful to reveal to someone that their father is not their real father, or to inform them that they were adopted if they don’t already know.

What anyone does with the information they find when doing family history based researched is of course a personal matter. The one doing the research will know their family best, yet could still remain confused as to where to go with the information. At this point it may be wise to consult an older relative, even a professional of some sort. Whatever the decision, it is a personal one, yet should be made with kind consideration.

Where You Might Find Family Secrets

The following are some potential family secrets you may run into:

1. Illegitimacy and Adoption

2. Divorce and Bigamy

3. Poverty

4. Criminal Activity

In this series about family secrets, I’ll cover each of these areas and the records you may use to either verify or disprove them, beginning with illegitimacy and adoption.

Illegitimacy and Adoption

Believe it or not, illegitimacy was not always considered such a big deal. Many members of royalty in the past sired illegitimate children and rather than sweep them under the carpet, they recognized them publicly, even creating official positions for them and bestowing titles upon them. The children of lower class mistresses though not treated so openly or generously, were still cared for and given an education or a military commission in order for them to have an established place in society. These sorts of situations may be revealed while searching through Estate Records. If you come across payments made out of estate accounts to mysterious people, or for lavish gifts, these could point to support for an illegitimate child, or a mistress.

Another clue of illegitimacy is the lack of a father’s name on a birth certificate or an anomaly on a census report. Often a girl’s parents would adopt a child if it was born out of wedlock, yet if the family were poor, they wouldn’t be able to afford that. In such a case, the parents either; searched for the father and made him marry their daughter, or if he wouldn’t marry her, force him to pay a “bastardy bond”, the form of child support of the time. Unfortunately not all men were honourable enough to do either one of those things, and many fled the county or country by joining the army or running away to sea. If searching civil registration you find a marriage that happened a few months before or after the birth of a child, it was usually a forced marriage.

A common option was of course to put a child up for adoption. Unfortunately prior to the twentieth century, little records were kept of adoptions, and most arrangements were either made privately or secretly assisted by the church.

In any case, it’s very exciting to find discrepancies in records or in stories handed down through the generations. Keep an open mind and enjoy the journey to find out about your ancestors. You never know what your research may turn up!

The black is fairly easy to establish because as far back as I can go on Earl’s father’s ancestry, the family is listed as black (I am using black as this was the terminology on the records of the time). I realize there is the “one drop rule” that means any black in your ancestry no matter how far back means you are black. That can skew the results, but there is no evidence of any other ethnicity to in the WOODS line back from Earl’s father than black (or Negro as was used on the 1930 United States Federal Census).

Perhaps, if we could go further back in the WOODS line, we might find different ancestry, but it is doubtful there would be enough to establish the claim of one-quarter Native American and one quarter Chinese on the basis of Earl WOODS’ paternal line. It is said that Miles, Earl’s father, “was black, clearly of African ancestry” (telegraph.co.uk, 05 May 2006) and that is where I have to leave this line for now.

Perhaps we will do better with Earl’s maternal line. His mother was Maud(e) Ellen CARTER, who married his father Miles WOODS (July 1919 according to William Addams Reitwiesner who does not give a primary source for this information). Miles was a widowed prior to the 1910 census. His first wife was Viola and they had at least four children together (sources: 1905 Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 and 1910 United States Federal Census).

While the WOODS family lived in Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas, the CARTER family was also in Kansas but over a hundred miles away in Stranger, Leavenworth County.

Earl’s mother, Maud(e) Ellen CARTER, was born in May 1893 (1900 United States Federal Census), 20 years younger than her husband. On the Kansas State Census Collection of March 1, 1895, she is age two living with her parents Louis and Hattie CARTER. On the 1900 and 1905 census records, she is still living with her parents and siblings. In 1910, her mother is listed as widowed and the head of the family is given as Maude’s older brother Fred.

See Table 1 for the standard information given on the 1895-1930 census records for Maud. Those dated June of a year are United States Federal Census records and those dated March are from the Kansas State Census Collection. Blank means no answer was given, none means the word none appeared in the column and n/a means not asked. As shown on every census record, Maud is listed as B for black, except for 1930 which used Neg. for Negro.

On the 1895, 1900 and 1905 census records, Maud and family reside in Stranger, Leavenworth, Kansas. Her first name is written as Martha on the 1905 Kansas State Census Collection, but she is the right age, with the correct parents and consistent siblings to be Maude.

In 1915, the closest match is Maud CARTER, 22, living with Martha C. Babcock, age 70, and Francis Babcock, age 30, in Wakarusa, Douglas County, Kansas. The Babcocks are identified as W for white while Maud is listed as B for black. Maud is the only black person on that page.

When Maude marries Miles Woods, she lives with him at Manhattan, Riley, Kansas. On the 1920 census, one child from the previous marriage is still living at home with his father and his new stepmother. By the 1925 record, there are no children from Miles first family and three children from the new marriage have been added to the family.

An interesting question is what was Maude doing in the Babcock household? Was she a domestic for them or was it closer to a college that she was attending? According to Londino, she did both domestic work and attended college (though not necessarily at the same time). He says, “Maude CARTER was a college graduate, but she spent her entire life doing domestic work because there were so few opportunities for black women” (Source: Tiger WOODS: a biography, by Lawrence J. Londino, Greenwood Press, 2005).

Was a college education even possible for a black woman at the time? The answer is yes, because after emancipation (which was gradual but finalized December 6, 1865 with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution) education for African-Americans was seen as extremely important. The belief that churning out African-American teachers through “normal schools” was essential to raising educational levels of all African-Americans resonated throughout the states where African-American populations were high.

Kansas was one such state as many made their way north in a mass exodus to try to find states that might afford them more opportunities. Those who moved during this time were called “Exodusters” and the CARTER family was certainly part of this movement. Maude’s father gives his father’s place of birth as Kentucky and his mother’s as North Carolina. By the early 1900s when Maude would have been college age, there were many African-American universities and colleges in Kansas.

I could find two women named Maude CARTER who received teaching credentials, but neither was in Kansas. Certainly this does not rule Maude out, as it is impossible to do an exhaustive search. Yet, to say she was college-educated but unable to secure work other than as a domestic is mysterious, because I read that the need for African-American teachers was high during this time. It is definitely possible she took something other than teaching or that teaching jobs for blacks might have been limited to all black schools and these did not pay well enough to support her family.

In fact, a testament to the truth of the college education is that the 1920 United States Federal Census shows her as having no occupation, but in the column where it says, “Was in school since September 1, 1919” the census taker wrote yes. At this time, she was 28 and since she was in school for the 1900 and 1905 census years, I would assume at age 28, she would be attending college. The 1915 record does not show an occupation or attendance at a school, but she would have been 18 and could have finished elementary and high school by then.

Regardless of her schooling, there is nothing in any records for Maude to indicate she was anything but black.

In Part III, I will examine Maude’s parents’ genealogy to see if there is any other ethnicity for them in the attempt to determine Earl Dennison Woods’ claim to be something other than 100% African-American.

Xenia Stanford of Write On! XPRESS and A.G.E. Ancestree Genealogical Enterprises

These claims might be intriguing and even give him an air of mystery, but are they true? One would hate to doubt what a person claims as ethnic make-up, but I have not found any proof to substantiate some of these claims and, in fact, evidence seems to refute some.

We all know by now through the media that Tiger WOODS was born Eldrick Tont WOODS (in case you hadn’t heard, yes, Tiger is only a nickname) on December 30, 1975, although the location varies from Cypress to Long Beach, California. The California Birth Index, 1905-1995 gives the birth county only and that is Los Angeles County.

His father is well-known to be Earl Dennison WOODS and his mother Kultida (Tida) PUNSAWAD. Earl WOODS quite openly names his parents as Miles WOODS and Maude CARTER. Mrs. WOODS nee PUNSAWAD is not so open about her parents’ names. According to some, her parents “disowned her” when she married an African American Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces, which Earl WOODS was when he met her, during the Vietnam War.

WOODS was stationed in Bangkok when he met Miss PUNSAWAD. The information on her parentage comes mainly from Tiger Woods: A biography by Lawrence J. Londino (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2005) who writes that Mr. PUNSAWAD was the owner of a tin mine in Thailand and the family owned a fleet of buses in Bangkok.

Tiger’s mother is stated to be of Thai, Chinese and Dutch ancestry. Certainly the surname is a common one in Thailand, according to my Thai source. The Dutch ancestry is supposedly from one of her grandfathers. I would guess it would be her mother’s father, since the name PUNSAWAD is not Dutch. There is no proof of her ancestral ethnicities, but it is easy to believe them given the part of the world from which she came.

It is the claims of his father as one-quarter Native American and one-quarter Chinese that I question.

Certainly the African American is easy enough to establish. The Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 (census dates March 1, 1905 and 1915), the United States Federal Censuses of 1910, 1920 and 1930, as well as the Riley County Kansas 1925 Decennial Agricultural State Census, all list the ethnic origin of Earl WOODS’ father as “black.” In addition to listing his racial origins as black, the World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, give Miles WOODS’ skin color as “dark brown.”

Another interesting gap between hearsay and documented fact is that Earl’s father, Miles, was said to be a bricklayer (Londino). The above census and military records give his occupation as the following: Laborer at Hammond Lumber Co., delivery man for lumber co., labourer (on more than one census record) and Hauler – General Trash (1930). If one would embellish the occupation of his father, would he also embellish his ethnicity?

Further anomalies in Earl’s supposed ancestry is that about 15 websites state he was “the youngest and the only male of four siblings.” According to the Londino book listed above, he was the “youngest in a family of six children. An older brother was Miles…”

Through the census records it appears that Miles had a family with a wife named Viola in 1905 (Kansas State Census Collection, 1905 March 1), but he is widowed by 1910. On the State census document, he is listed with two sons and two daughters. On his World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, he lists his next-of-kin as his daughter Ella Elizabeth Davis.

On the 1920 federal census, Miles WOODS has a new wife, Maude, and only one child, son Burnard age 16, remains at home. On the Kansas State Census Collection, 1925, they have Miles E WOODS age 4, Hattie Bell WOODS age 3 and Freda Ethen WOODS 16 months. On the 1930 Federal Census, a daughter Lillian E WOODS, then age 4, has been added. For Earl born in 1932 to be the youngest of six, another child must have been born later in 1930 or in 1931. Certainly Earl is not the only male child and there are more than four siblings, even without a child being born between Lillian and Earl.

Back to the ethnic question: To be one-quarter native North American “Indian,” Earl would have to descend from an ancestor who is half “Indian” or from two parents who are each one-quarter “Indian.” Ditto for the half Chinese. Yet no such designation is found on any census records for Miles WOODS and Maude CARTER. On all the above census records they and their children are listed as black.

According to A. Reddicks of REDDICKS Family Tree, available as a public member’s tree on Ancestry.com, Miles WOODS, who was born July 27, 1873 in Louisiana (confirmed from his World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918) and died in Manhattan, Riley, Kansas on August 28, 1943, was the son of John WOODS and Henrietta PETERS. This means Miles should have appeared as a child of theirs on the 1880 and perhaps even the 1890 census, if he was still at home at age 17.

Instead the only matching record of a John and Hetty WOODS on the 1880 Federal Census shows two daughters, Frances 9 and Bellefelia 8, followed by sons, Stephen W. age 5 and Gilbert age 4. Two more daughters, Maria age 1 and Anna age 3 months, complete the family picture. If Miles was in fact their child, he should be included and shown as age 7.

I do find a Miles WOODS on the 1880 US Census age 8 with parents Jonas and Philis WOODS and several younger siblings, one of which is Bell (a name used in combination with Hattie as a name for one of Earl’s sisters). Although this looks like a good match, the problem is the father’s birthplace is listed as Georgia, the mother’s as Mississippi and Miles as Mississippi also. The Miles WOODS married to Maude CARTER lists both his parents and his birthplace as Louisianna, which matches John and Henrietta.

It wouldn’t matter to which of the two families above Miles belonged. All of them are listed as black. So this one is a complete mystery, but there is no indication of any “Indian” or Chinese ancestry on that side of the family. If you know or find anything to shed light on this mystery, please email me.

Perhaps we’ll have better luck finding a non-black ancestry in Earl’s mother’s family, if we believe the following statement, “Miles’s children by his second wife, Maude CARTER, were all of different colours. Miles himself was black, clearly of African ancestry. Maude, however, was lighter-skinned, and Grandmother CARTER ‘the prettiest blonde you ever saw.’ The shape and setting of Earl’s eyes seemed to bear out the family joke that they had had a Chinese ancestor who “didn’t stay on his railroad job” (Source: telegraph.co.uk, 05 May 2006).

The last sentence is probably more joke than truth since Nelson Mandela has eyes that are even more slanted than Earl’s. That statement aside, let’s see if there is any non-black ancestry to lead credence to Earl’s blonde Grandmother. Also, is there a half-Indian, half-Chinese in the CARTER line to make Earl one quarter of each?

Part II to follow.

Xenia Stanford of Write On! XPRESS and A.G.E. Ancestree Genealogical Enterprises

This story has been circulating for a few years now, ever since UK newspaper the Guardian published the shocking report, “How Bush’s grandfather helped Hitler’s rise to power” The report revealed rumors of links between the Bush family and Nazi war criminals. The article is long and detailed and gives proof of George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush and his maternal great grandfather George Herbert Walker were aiding and abetting Nazis.

Since the Guardian published this, there have been several people who’ve searched and found these rumors to be fact, one of whom is John Buchanan, investigative reporter who was granted permission to view classified and closed records that prove without a shadow of a doubt that the Bush family was running a money laundering operation for the 3rd Reich. You can see John Buchanan discuss the Bush/Nazi connection complete with clippings and images in an interview with Alex Jones.

Another reputable journalist, Russ Baker has researched this branch of the Bush family tree, and has written a book about it called Family of Secrets. Apparently in the book, in addition to discussing the Nazi connection, he provides conclusive evidence that George H. Bush was involved in the Kennedy assassination.

This is no doubt an exciting chapter in the Bush Genealogy, which by the way is a who’s who of politics, Hollywood and royalty as you can see from this CBS report on the Bush Family Tree.

Looking back at family histories, and uncovering these exciting stories makes you wonder how much of you is you and how much is predetermined by the kind of people your ancestors were. If you look at great leaders and conversely, criminal masterminds, often there is a parallel between the actions of the ancestors and the actions of the living descendants. It’s interesting to see in this family how the apple didn’t fall far from the tree (or Bush). The war crimes great grand daddy and grand daddy were involved with during WWII are reminiscent of the wars fought under both Bush administrations.

What thrilling genealogical finds have you unearthed in your family research? And are there any similarities to any of your relatives living now?