When Margaret Hill married William D. Hill in 1841, she owned a feather bed, furniture, a small stock of hogs and cattle, a track of land, a house, and a "Negro" man named Santee. She also possessed two promissory notes from her new husband for the total sum of $660. Within a short while, Hill drove her out of the house with threats of violence. He then demanded that she cancel his promissory notes. She agreed if he would relinquish his marital rights to her property and return Santee, which he assented to and for which he executed a bill of sale. However, she claims, upon receiving the notes he refused to turn over the slave. Later, he migrated to Mississippi and married, but returned to Alabama where he was indicted and convicted of bigamy and sentenced to the penitentiary. While in jail, he gave Hogan Irby power of attorney to sell the remainder of his property, including the sale of eighty acres of land to Lewis Boutwell. She "is a very old woman" and it is obvious that her husband "married her with the sole intention of getting her property," Margaret now writes. She sues her husband, Irby, and Boutwell to secure a return of her property.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Sumter County Courthouse, Livingston, Alabama
