Sarah Welsh asks the court to arrest her husband, Dennis Welsh, and "that he be detained in custody until he gives bond with security not to molest your Orator or the property in her custody" until the court rules on her pending divorce suit. Prior to her marriage, Sarah drew up a prenuptial agreement to ensure that her separate property remains "in her full sole and exclusive use and employment," and Dennis signed the contract. Shortly after their marriage, says Sarah, her husband "was guilty of such cruel & barbarous conduct towards her that she found it impossible to live with him," and she filed for divorce. Meanwhile, "with the rents and profits of the lands and of the hire of the slaves" from her separate estate, she was able to purchase new six slaves, noting that "the purchase money strictly derived from the sources aforesaid and that no part thereof was contributed by the said Dennis." Sarah explains that her husband, "sometimes pretends that the marital right of the defendant attaches to them and that they are the property of the defendant and that he is entitled to them." In this vein, she reports, Dennis has repeatedly threatened to deprive her of her personal property, going so far as to sell one of the six slaves, Sam, who was worth six hundred dollars.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: University of South Alabama Archives, Mobile, Alabama
