State: North Carolina Year: 1805
Location: Edgecombe Type: County
Abstract: Winny Manning confesses that her husband Eli "is absolutely impotent & by nature rendered a useless man as a husband." She admits that as "unpleasant as that may appear to a young & healthy woman" it is "but trifling" compared to his suspicions of her entertaining "illicit connection with every man, both white & black that may have seen her," which at times has resulted in a "certain danger of her life." Winny therefore asks that an act be passed divorcing her "from the said Eli Manning." Eli Manning, "on his part," states that "the happy ends for which matrimony was ordained has been frustrated & rendered a fruitfull sorce of the most unpleasant reflections and that reconciliation will never take place." He therefore "begs leave most freely & sincerely to join his sd Wife Winny in praying your honorable body to relieve your truly suffering Petitioners by granting them a divorce."
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The Digital Library on American Slavery, website University of North Carolina at Greensboro