Ann Mather, a free woman of color, seeks a separation of bed and board from her husband, St. Luke Bienville. Ann represents that, since her 1822 marriage to Bienville, she has conducted herself as “a faithful dutiful and affectionate wife” and has gained the good opinion of her “friends & neighbors.” Yet, her husband has treated her cruelly, beating her and refusing to feed her and their four children, Eliza, Hannah, Josephine, and Armand. According to Ann, St. Luke Bienville has been guilty of such excesses that, in spite of her “patience & forbearance,” their living together has become “impossible & insupportable,” and she has sought refuge at the house of her sister, Christine Mather. Ann therefore prays for a “separation from bed and board” from her husband, for custody of her children, and for alimony during the duration of the suit. She also seeks a separation of property in order to recover two lots of ground, one of which she received as a gift from her mother and the other she paid for out of her “paraphernal & separate property."
Result: Granted.
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Repository: East Baton Rouge Parish, Clerk of Court Archives, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
