Petition #11681903

• Louisa County, Virginia. December 13, 1819. - December 29, 1819.
• Court: Legislative
• Salutation: To the Honourable the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia

Abstract

Barbara W. Pettus seeks a divorce from her husband Hugh M. Pettus, whom she had married about 1809 only to discover he was a man of immoral character. Not only was he engaged in "wicked and vicious pursuit" of trading slaves from Maryland and Virginia to South Carolina and Georgia, but when he returned home about every six months he brought with him "coloured female Slaves, his kept mistresses." He finally decided to move to Georgia, and she believed it was her duty to accompany him; but he has run off with "a young woman of respectable family," with whom he lives as man and wife.

Result: Bill drawn.

• Number of petition pages: 4
• Related documents: Affidavit, Joseph F. Dabney, 18 December 1819; Affidavit, Elizabeth Dabney, Eliza M. Hillman, 18 December 1819; Affidavit, William Johnson, 18 December 1819; Affidavit, Charles Thompson, 20 December 1819
• Pages of related documents: 4

1 people are documented within petition 11681903

• 1 Petitioner

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Citation information

Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

• Legislative Petitions

Subjects

• Adultery
• Divorce
• Domestic violence
• Interracial relationships
• Slave trade (domestic)
• Abandonment