Your ancestors may have permanently separated but never divorced. In some cases, one spouse may have sued the other one for separate maintenance (in which case there may be a court record). If there’s not a court case, a deed separating property may be recorded wherein who has sole title to what property is clearly stated.
If the couple had no real or personal assets, there is a lower chance of any resulting record.
They may have also married other people after their separation–even if they never divorced. It was sometimes cheaper and easier to simply go their separate ways. The times these situations became issues where when there were significant assets or a military pension involved.
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My great-grandparents did this. He left home and didn’t return. Then my great-grandmother got wind that he had remarried and had another child. She sued him for bigamy and he spent 2-3 years in prision. His defense was that he didn’t think he was legally married to my great-grandmother because the marriage took place after they had had 3 children, and only with a rifle on him from her family.