Hetty Jewell Mitchell seeks a separation of "bed and board" from her husband's of ten years, James Mitchell, on the grounds of cruelty and abuse. She explains that she was "tenderly raised and abundantly supplied and sustained by a tender wealthy father" and had expectations of "comfort and felicity." But "so it is," she claims, that she "has been sadly disappointed" and that her husband has proven to have such "a cruel & unnatural temper" that she can no longer dwell with him. She claims that, at the time of her marriage, her father settled $2,650 in slaves on her new husband, as part of her dowry, stipulating that the slaves would remain mortgaged to her. She therefore asks the court to order a separation of property and to recognize the "mortgage and rights" she holds on the land and slaves in "partnership" with her husband. She also asks the court to enjoin her husband from disposing of the property and wants an inventory and appraisement of the property. In a related answer, James Jewell charges his wife with abandoning him during periods of severe illness, leaving a suckling child to his care, and being unkind to their servants.
Result: Rejected.
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Repository: Pointe Coupee Parish Courthouse, New Roads, Louisiana
