State: North Carolina
Year: 1805
Abstract: Sarah Johnston seeks a divorce from her husband John on the grounds of bigamy and abandonment. Sarah states that they were married for nine years until John left her “without assigning any cause for his Conduct or giving your petitioner any notice of his Intentions." She reports that she "set out to find" him and traced his whereabouts to various towns across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia until finally she learned that he "took Shipping for Ireland his native country." She charges that John "before his departure Squandered and made way with the principal part" of nine slaves of which she was possessed at the time of their marriage; when he abandoned her, there were only three slaves left and she "has Sold two of the slave to pay his Debts." She confides that "during the time they lived together" John told her "he had another wife of which your petitioner had no suspicion untill a short time before he went away." Sarah therefore prays that "the General Assembly would make void the Marriage Contract and grant to your petitioner a Divorce from the said John L D Johnston and also to secure to your petitioner all such property as she may now be in possession of for her relief she being Destitute of any support."
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The Digital Library on American Slavery, website University of North Carolina at Greensboro