Divorces in my Ancestry

Divorce is a tragic thing whenever it happens. Sadly, many people also believe that divorce is mostly a modern thing. Not true! I have found many divorces in my ancestry, several in the 1900s, among pious religious folk! Here is a list of the divorces I've found in my family tree:

• Brian Keith Winn, my father: Divorced his first wife, LIVING (possibly) on May 10, 1985.
• Luther Allen Saddler Jr., paternal grandfather: Divorced his first wife, Helen May Saunders, on December 17, 1947 in Princeton, West Virginia. He also divorced his third wife, Betty Irene VanDeCreek, around 1965. 
• (LIVING), paternal grandmother: Divorced her first husband, Gary Wayne Biggs, around 1974.
• Luther Allen Saddler Sr. and Mary Roberta Morris, great-grandparents: Date of divorce is not known. In fact it is only known that they divorced, nothing more. 
• John Washington Winn Jr. and Ethel Clemons, great-grandparents: Divorced around 1967 in Michigan due to my great-grandfather's infidelity. 
• Ethel Clemons, great-grandmother: Divorced all three of her other husbands besides my great-grandfather. Her first marriage, when she was a teenager, was annulled due to her age. Then she divorced her second husband, Prentice Franklin Reeves, in 1946 in Polk County, Florida, so she could remarry to my great-grandfather. And third, she divorced her final husband, Edward Eugene Betz. 
• John Washington Winn Sr. and Lula Lavene Benton, great-great grandparents: Divorced in 1939 in Polk County, Florida. Several details make this divorce pretty interesting to me. Firstly, their divorce suit was filed in Polk County on June 13, in Circuit Court. On that same day, Lula filed an SS-5 stating that she was living in Ormond Beach, Florida, which is in Volusia County. Probably the couple had separated and then filed for divorce. Less then two weeks after they filed for divorce, John remarried to Lillian Hart in Flagler County, Florida on June 26. I don't know when the divorce was granted, or how long they had to wait for John and Lillian to marry, but all of this information adds more questions then it answers. They may have divorced due to Lula's supposed mental issues. It seems after the divorce she went to live with her brother Norton in Cayce, South Carolina. Another fact: according to memories of my great-aunt, my great-grandfather John Washington Winn Jr. just came home one day and his mother was gone. The circumstances and details of this divorce lead me to wonder what exactly was going on in the family at this time. 
• Jan Peter Huyser, great-great grandfather: Apparently divorced two of his wives; firstly, on September 29, 1922, Jacoba de Kok, who was the widow of Isaac Cappon, the first Mayor of Holland, Michigan; and secondly, from his wife Carolyn, on August 29, 1928, in Ottawa County. The first divorce probably indirectly led to my great-grandparents meeting, because the church that JPH was attending, Third Reformed Church of Holland, asked him not to receive communion because of the divorce, so he began attending First Reformed Church of Holland, where my great-grandparents met. The divorce from Jacoba was granted to him because of desertion, while the divorce from Carolyn was granted to him, the libellant, due to "extreme and repeated cruelty". In both cases, JPH filed for the divorce. 
• Fred Edwin Wise Sr., great-great grandfather: Divorced his first wife, Mae Eva Little, on February 7, 1911 in Michigan. The divorce was filed by Fred, due to desertion. 
• William Reiner Harkema and Jennie Grote, 3rd great grandparents: Divorced on February 8, 1912. The divorce was filed by William, due to Jennie's "extreme and repeated cruelty". This seems very uncharacteristic of the woman that my beloved grandma visited as a young girl, and deepens my fascination with my grandmother's family. 
• William Reiner Harkema, 3rd great grandfather: Divorced his second wife, Vernelia Elma Tuttle, on August 3, 1942 in Kent County, Michigan. According to the record, this divorce was granted to the wife due to desertion. From a victim of cruelty, to deserting his second wife. William Reiner Harkema was such a fascinating person, although I have no photos of him.

This list is obviously not exhaustive. It doesn't include, for example, the many separations and annulments that occurred in my medieval royal and noble ancestry. For example, Eleanor of Aquitaine's annulment from King Louis VII of France (I descend from both of Eleanor's marriages) and Earl Richard de Arundel's divorce from Isabel le Despenser (I descend from both of his marriages). 

Document Decoding: Fred Wise and Jeanette Harkema's Church Transfer

In the Protestant world, church transfers are nothing unusual. It was a custom, at least to my maternal grandfather's generation, to marry in the wife's church. That's why my grandparents married in the Methodist Church, despite my grandfather being RCA. When Protestant families moved, they often had to switch congregations. In or around 1923, my great-great grandparents Fred Edwin Wise Sr. and Jeanette Gertrude Harkema moved from Ionia, Michigan to Holland, Michigan. Ionia County is two counties east of Ottawa County (where Holland is), so it made sense for the Wise's to switch congregations. However, when they moved, they also switched denominations!

According to this document, which was found in "U.S., Selected States Dutch Reformed Church Membership Records, 1701-1995", Mr. and Mrs. Fred E. Wise were members in full communion of the First Presbyterian Church in Ionia. They had probably been members for a few years, as the family was living in Ionia in the 1920 Census. The record goes on to state that at their own request, they are dismissed from the congregation and recommended to the "Christian care and fellowship" of the First Reformed Church of Holland. This order was given at Ionia on March 25, 1923. Once the family had moved to Holland, they began attending First Reformed, an RCA congregation where my family has deep roots. This was probably up to at least the time of Fred's death four years later, because when she died in 1951, Jeanette was attending Prospect Park Christian Reformed Church- yet another Protestant denomination!