The following abbreviations were used:
CCOB - Circuit Court Order Book CPOB - Common Pleas Order Book
The following is an index to divorces filed in Knox County during the years 1861-1880. Each divorce case is listed, regardless of whether of not the court granted the divorce. If the case was dismissed, or if the court refused to allow the divorce, the entry has been marked with an asterisk (*). There is often more than one record shown for the same couple, if they refiled at a later date.The two Knox County courts where divorces could be filed at this time, were the Knox County Circuit Court and the Knox CountyCourt of Common Pleas. The latter functioned from 1853 to 1873.
This is an index to the final order book entry (book and page number), which records the outcome of a case. There are, of course, other less important entries in the order books. Box numbers, giving the location of original papers filed in these actions, have not been listed. The index system used to locate files at the time was based on the date of the term when the case was disposed of. This is why the specific term of court for each listing has been noted. There is no guarantee that the file can be found, even with this information, although the success rate has been good. Files remain quarter-folded and in the original metal drawers.
The clerks who recorded civil case entries in the order books in the mid nineteenth-century, created many problems for present- day researchers. Often, their entries (when the action was dismissed) did not specify what type of case the court was dealing with. So, for example, an action between Mary and John Smith may or may not have been a divorce case. All such cases were cross referenced with files, but since some files couldn't be located, there are records that could not be verified as divorce cases. These do not have great significance, since, as noted, they were dismissed. These have been included in a separate section here. The overwhelming number of cases between the same surname of the opposite sex did turn out to be divorces.
The second problem arose when a case was continued, but there were no further indexed references. Some of the latter were not specified as divorce actions. These have also been listed separately from the main body of the index.
All order books and files are located at the Knox County Records Library, 819 Broadway, Vincennes, IN.
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