Robert Chiles seeks a divorce from his wife Celia. He submits that the said Celia has been "guilty of the crime of Adultery with certain & divers persons whose names to your orator are unknown." He further cites that "she has very frequently offered such indignities to his person as to render his Condition intolerable so much so that he was compelled to absent himself from his own home." Revealing that "she has been guilty of Adultery since his separation from her and was impregnated by a negro man," the petitioner prays that the court will "render a decree dissolving the bonds of matrimony between him & Celia and restore to him all the rights & priviledges of a single man." Elizabeth Caton stated in her deposition that Celia "had a child and ... that the child was born and was a dark mullato color and ... that she asked her who was the gather of the child and She [Celia] answered and said that he was a negro by the name of Abram who belonged to the widow adams."
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Repository: Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
