Martha Upthegrove seeks a "reasonable maintenance" from her husband Henry. She charges that, after three years of marriage, the said Henry "became restless and ill temper'd and treated yr. Oratrix with cruelty and inhumanity and ultimately abandon'd yr. Oratrix without Cause and without any subsistence whatever and hath ever since cohabit'd with one of his own female slaves by whom he has several children." The petitioner submits that "the said Upthegrove has now a competent livelyhood ... consisting of some land and Six or Eight negro Slaves out of [which] he refuses her the least pittance or support." She further believes that her husband "will remove together with all his Negroes and other moveable property without the Limits of this State to avoid being liable to contribute towards the Support of your Oratrix." The petitioner therefore prays that the said Henry be summoned to answer her charges and that he be prevented from departing "from & without the Limits of this State ... with his property and effects untill he shall have answer'd ... the Complaint of yr Oratrix."
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
