Lucy P. Burwell seeks a divorce from her husband John. She states that her marriage was happy for many years and that she bore him eight children. She reveals, however, that his treatment towards her and her children has "sadly changed." Lucy attributes this change to his steadily growing "habits of intemperance," attesting that John is "now rarely free from the influence of intoxicating drinks." She admits "with humiliation ... that he has contracted an improper and disreputable intimacy with one of his own female slaves, which she believes has existed for several years." Lucy confesses that she was horrified when John announced in the presence of their children "that he would not share her bed that night, but would occupy a different room" with "the female slave aforesaid, who remained in the room with him during the night." Lucy asserts that "this girl has within a few years past been the mother of two children the offspring of a white father," and she believes that John fathered the children. Lucy also claims that John violently beat her; on one occasion he "rudely pressed her up against the wall, choked her, and then struck her violently on each side of her face." Fleeing to the kitchen, Lucy recounts that John "ordered his slaves to pursue her," and she asserts that "a boy Enoch, actually offered to lay his hands on her, but was deterred by her resistance." She argues that she is "virtually a prisoner at home," citing that John once paid five slaves five dollars to prevent her leaving. The petitioner prays for a divorce, custody of her four younger children and a determination "in relation to the interest of your oratrix in her husband's estate," which includes "some 30 slaves or more" and land.
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
