Washington County Divorce Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Washington

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes digital images of divorce records from the civil courts in the following counties:


 * Clark
 * Cowlitz
 * Grays Harbor
 * Lewis
 * Mason
 * Pacific
 * Thurston
 * Wahkiakum

The records are arranged by year and then in boxed files, alphabetically by name.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
These records contain the following information:


 * Names of interested parties
 * Divorce date
 * Name of court
 * County of court
 * Conditions of the divorce decree

In addition the records may also contain:


 * Ages or calculated birth year of husband and wife
 * Names of minor children
 * Names of other relatives
 * Court costs

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the parties involved in the divorce.
 * The approximate date of divorce.
 * The place where the divorce occurred.
 * The names of family members who may be named in the divorce decree.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "County" ⇒Select the "Case File Number Range" which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s divorce record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as age, or wife's maiden name. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the divorce record to find the marriage record of the couple
 * Use the divorce record to identify other family members

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for another index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Image citation: