Jane McCalop petitions for a separation of bed and board, and of property, from her husband, William Johnston. Jane claims that, although she has always “demeaned” herself as an affectionate wife, she has not been able to enjoy the “domestic peace & felicity” which she has a right to expect. On the contrary, her husband has physically and verbally abused her before strangers, children, and servants, using language so obscene that it cannot bear to be repeated. He has threatened to kill her, even while she had a child in her arms, admonished her to prepare for death, and pointed a gun at one of the servants who refused to drag her back to him. According to Jane McCalop Johnston, life with her husband has become so unbearable that she wants to be separated from him. In addition, she seeks to recover her paraphernal property, which consists of a four-hundred-and-fifty-acre plantation, livestock, farm utensils, household articles, and eighteen slaves. She prays for an order of sequestration on the property to prevent her husband from squandering it during the trial. Finally she prays to be authorized to administer her separate property and to have custody of her children.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: East Baton Rouge Parish, Clerk of Court Archives, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
