Laura Ann Myers seeks alimony from her estranged husband, Baron DeKalb Myers. She reports that she married her husband in 1844 but left his residence within three weeks of their marriage because her husband claimed he did not love her and began treating "her with great coolness and indifference." She returned to her mother's home where she gave birth to the couple's only child in October 1845. The following year he convinced her to return with him to his residence, but he soon began physically abusing her. Laura laments that he beat her with a horse whip and a stick; that he dragged her by her hair; and that he pulled her through the house and the yard by a noose. She further confides that all the while he "cohabited with a negro woman belonging to himself named Dicey." She states that she eventually left her husband and returned again to her mother's house where she and her daughter have continued to live and support themselves. She explains that she "was reluctant to claim any pecuniary assistance by legal process from her husband" earlier as she feared "he had the right and would force her to surrender her child to him.” With her daughter nearly grown "to womanhood" and her elderly mother ill, Laura is "now compelled to seek that redress" and to request a "reasonable and proper support" for her and their daughter. The petitioner therefore prays that "she may be decreed to be allowed alimony and be protected in living separate and apart from her said husband."
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
