Some Nice Boring Statistics

Jan. 2, 1907
Los Angeles

Some diligent soul at The Times dug through the number of marriage licenses and divorces and put together a small story that traced the city’s growth through the increase in couples that joined or separated. This is the kind of information you could never find if you were looking for it; only through happenstance can you discover this data.

So here we go:

Year	Marriages	Divorces
1906	4,714	719, 13 annulments
1905	3,841	567
1904	3,283	557, 10 annulments
1903	3,005	473, 7 annulments
1902	2,351	386
1901	1,917
1900	1,503
1899	1,505?
1898	1,381?
1897	1,432
1896	1,405
1895	illegible
1894	1,251
1893	1,201
1892	1,023
1891
1890	1,182
1889	576

Apparently Los Angeles did not have a thriving reputation as an early day Reno. Divorces were only granted to those who had lived here for a year. The Times writer notes a difference between a final decree and an interlocutory decree: Those with a final decree could remarry while those with an interlocutory decree had to wait a year. For 1906, the figures were 719 interlocutory decrees and 542 final decrees.

The Times also notes that given the Episcopal Church’s tight restrictions on performing marriages of divorcees, the number of ceremonies by justices of the peace has increased markedly.

As regular blog readers will recall, getting a divorce in 1907 could be quite a challenge.

Lmharnisch.com
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