Wright Chat

Can anyone tell me what the legal restrictions on divorce were in Illinois circa 1908-1909, when Wright was seeking one? When were they relaxed?

generally speaking, divorce laws started being relaxed in the 1970s as "no-fault" divorce became more common.

The state of the law in the early 1900s is a complicated matter and would require an examination of the statutes in effect at that time as well as judicial interpretations at the state supreme court.

If I were researching that point, I would probably start with legal treatises from the time period and hope to find a book or a section in a legal encyclopedia from that time and covering Illinois in particular. That book would likely be found in the sub-basement of an Illinois law school library or the state law library.

If I couldn't find a state-specific publication, I would look at the early national legal encyclopedias like Corpus Juris. Those would in the basements of law schools nationwide.

Did he in fact seek a divorce ca. 1909? My understanding is that he didn't go through with it until he decided to marry Miriam Noel more than a decade later.

Twombly says in his biography that in Wisconsin, which was Wright's residence at the time, either party could unilaterally divorce after the couple lived apart for 7 years - i.e. from 1916 on - and Wright never took advantage of this law. He had a hard time putting Catherine behind him.

All accounts I've read indicate that Kitty initially rejected a divorce upon his return from Europe, so that would put it no earlier than 1911.

Correct, Stan. Kitty didn't agree to a divorce until she met a man she wanted to marry. I have never read that FLW pursued the subject beyond his initial request, and it didn't happen until 1918, long before the Mad Miriam nuptials.