The Genealogy Club of Newtown will conduct its next meeting on Wednesday, February 11, beginning at 7 pm via Zoom.

With the meeting so close to Valentine’s Day, and everyone focused on love and romance, this program will focus on “Alienation of Affection: Divorce in the US.” Christine Cohen will be the guest speaker.

Divorce is not a 20th century phenomenon. Divorce cases were heard in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the mid-1600s. At first granted by each state legislature, and then by the courts, these are public records. The case files can include date and place, names and ages of children, current and former residences, and affidavits by the spouses about their marriage and reason for the divorce.

For researchers, clues are in the census, city directories, military pensions, county histories, county courthouses, and especially in newspapers. If a spouse disappears from public records, divorce could be the reason for the “lost spouse.”

Christine Cohen’s interest in genealogy began in 1977 with the airing of the TV mini-series Roots. Her enthusiasm was piqued when she was given a typed pedigree chart, commissioned by her maternal grandfather, of their Dutch heritage from the New Netherlands in the 1650s.

A native Californian and a graduate of UCLA in Political Science, Cohen has moved to Oregon for retirement and pursues her genealogy journey full time.

She is a longtime member of Whittier Area Genealogical Society (WAGS), currently serving as its program director. She is also a member of the Tualatin (Oregon) Chapter of DAR, the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Association of Professional Genealogists, and the Society Delegate for National Genealogical Society.

She also conducted US based research to locate American heirs for the Dutch TV show De Erfgenaam, and explained and documented the US immigration and naturalization process to their Dutch investigator.

Meetings of the Genealogy Club are co-sponsored by C.H. Booth Library. All who are interested in genealogy are welcome to attend and can receive a link to the meeting by sending an email with their name and contact information to genclubnewtownct.secretary@gmail.com by February 8. The link will be sent February 9-11. Those planning to participate are asked to sign in beginning at 6:45 so that everyone can be admitted before the meeting begins at 7 pm.

Genealogy Club of Newtown meets the second Wednesday of each month from September through June. A variety of speakers on all aspects of genealogy are regularly featured.