Ann Minerva Magruder asks for a divorce from her husband, Westley Magruder, because of his "vulgar and offensive" behavior, especially while the petitioner was pregnant. She is staying with her father because she fears that her husband will do harm to her and her female child. Westley's answer states that his behavior was due to intoxication, and he has since "refrained from drink." He states that he works from sunup to sunset on their farm. He claims his wife's discontent arises from "not being served as she wishes to be" and he regrets that he does not have "the means of employing or purchasing servants, to wait on [her]." He explains his family had "an old woman," who "washed and cooked for the family," but she is not available to labor on Westley's new farm. He asserts that he requires no labor of his wife "but such as wives in the same circumstances of life usually render."
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
