Sarah Fowler seeks a divorce from her husband, William Fowler, and an injunction to prevent him from disposing of their property or slaves lent to the petitioner by her mother. She also asks for alimony and the custody of her children. Sarah states that for years she helped support the family from her dressmaking business, enabling them to acquire considerable property, including town lots in Austin, acreage, and slaves. She complains that her husband's treatment was frequently cruel and outrageous; that he drank liquor to excess; that he often physically abused her and their children; and that he slept with a slave woman in their bedroom behind a locked door. She recounts that on one occasion he began beating their son Alonzo with his fist for no reason. Sarah intervened and was hit several times herself. William Fowler then took a cowhide to Alonzo and "whipped [him] severely for a long time. His back was terribly lacerated, the skin having been cut in several places with the cow-hide." Next, she discloses that he turned his rage on "a little negro child about 17 months old, which he also whipped most unmercifully with the cowhide & otherwise."
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: Travis County Courthouse, Austin, Texas
