Mary L. Heison, by her next friend, Stephen Horton, asks the court for a divorce from Ferdinand Heison, who, she said, is "harsh, cruel, barbarous, and inhuman." He frequently beat and whipped her, pulled her hair, choked her, and "otherwise misused her." During their marriage, she charges, he engaged in illicit sexual relations with one of his slaves; even now, several years later, "he still Keeps said negro woman for the purpose of sexual intercourse." When they married in 1841, Mary owned four slaves: Nanna, Nanna's son Ben, and Nanna's two daughters, Tabitha and Lucinda. Ferdinand sold Nanna; Tabitha and Lucinda died; and he kept Ben after Mary left him in 1846, finally returning him in early 1848. Mary seeks alimony, funds to prosecute the suit, compensation for her slaves, and a writ restraining her husband from leaving the state.
Result: Dismissed.
Or you may view all people.
Repository: Sumter County Courthouse, Livingston, Alabama
