Hannah Morris seeks a divorce from John Morris, her husband of twenty-two years. She states that John abandoned her when she was sick, "declaring he would not return but to destroy what property she and her children should collect by their industry." John made good on his promise "by pulling up the herbs in the garden, and turning the cattle in the cornfield." In addition, Hannah reports that "to insult my feelings, and violate our marriage contract he carried on illicit commerce with a black woman." She concludes by stating that her husband also "debases himself by intoxication and when drunk uses your petitioner with savage cruelty. This statement is made not in levity, but in sincerity and truth." Hannah Morris asks that her marriage to John "be dissolved and forever set aside."
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
