Okla-homey
1/5/2009, 07:40 AM
January 5, 1643: First divorce in the colonies
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/8468/85653464qr0.png
366 years ago today, in the first record of a legal divorce in the American colonies, Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a divorce from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston, Massachusetts.
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7358/divorcewinthropjh1.jpg
John Winthrop, Jr. Father of the first divorced man in North America.
In a signed and sealed affidavit presented to John Winthrop Jr., the son of the colony's founder, Denis Clarke admitted to abandoning his wife, with whom he had two children, for another woman, with whom he had another two children. He also stated his refusal to return to his original wife, thus giving the Puritan court no option but to punish Clarke and grant a divorce to his wife, Anne.
The Quarter Court's final decision read:
"Anne Clarke, beeing deserted by Denis Clarke hir husband, and hee refusing to accompany with hir, she is graunted to bee divorced."
Divorce statistics in the United States
(Note, the Federal government stopped collecting data on divorce in 1999, thus these decade-old figures are the last available)
In 1998 2.2 million couples married and 1.1 million couples divorced.
In 2000 58 million couples were married, yet separated.
In 2000 there were over 21 million divorces.
People between the ages of 25 to 39 make up 60% of all divorces.
Over one million children are affected by divorce each year.
Approximately 1/3 of divorced parents remain bitter and hostile several years after the divorce.
In 1990 the average female age for re-marriage after divorce was 30.6 years; for males, 33.7 years of age.
In 1990 the average female age for a second divorce was 37.3 years; for males, 40.4 years of age.
More people are part of second marriages today than first marriages.
One-quarter of all Americans have experienced at least one divorce.
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6919/divorcebillboardlz9.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4161/divorcedg5.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/8468/85653464qr0.png
366 years ago today, in the first record of a legal divorce in the American colonies, Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a divorce from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston, Massachusetts.
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7358/divorcewinthropjh1.jpg
John Winthrop, Jr. Father of the first divorced man in North America.
In a signed and sealed affidavit presented to John Winthrop Jr., the son of the colony's founder, Denis Clarke admitted to abandoning his wife, with whom he had two children, for another woman, with whom he had another two children. He also stated his refusal to return to his original wife, thus giving the Puritan court no option but to punish Clarke and grant a divorce to his wife, Anne.
The Quarter Court's final decision read:
"Anne Clarke, beeing deserted by Denis Clarke hir husband, and hee refusing to accompany with hir, she is graunted to bee divorced."
Divorce statistics in the United States
(Note, the Federal government stopped collecting data on divorce in 1999, thus these decade-old figures are the last available)
In 1998 2.2 million couples married and 1.1 million couples divorced.
In 2000 58 million couples were married, yet separated.
In 2000 there were over 21 million divorces.
People between the ages of 25 to 39 make up 60% of all divorces.
Over one million children are affected by divorce each year.
Approximately 1/3 of divorced parents remain bitter and hostile several years after the divorce.
In 1990 the average female age for re-marriage after divorce was 30.6 years; for males, 33.7 years of age.
In 1990 the average female age for a second divorce was 37.3 years; for males, 40.4 years of age.
More people are part of second marriages today than first marriages.
One-quarter of all Americans have experienced at least one divorce.
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6919/divorcebillboardlz9.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4161/divorcedg5.jpg