Hardin v. Hardin

The State of Alabama, Limestone County

To any Sheriff of the State of Alabama Greeting

Because in the record and proceedings and also in the rendering of a Decree in a suit which was in our Chancery Court, in and for the thirty first Chancery District, Northern Chancery Division of the State of Alabama Before the Chancellor thereof, Between John Harden Complainant and Susan Harden Defendant late of said District, on a Bill for Divorce, Manifest Error hath intervened to the great damage of the said Com plainant; as we are informed - The record and proceedings of said Decree We have caused to be brought before the judges of the Supreme Court of said State of Alabama, for Certain Causes of Error. And being Willing, that Error if any there be should in due Manner be corrected And full and speedy justice, done to the Parties aforesaid as is just. Command you that you summon the said Susan Harden, that she be ?and? before the judges of said Supreme Court of said State of Alabama, at the Court house in the Town of Montgomery on the first Monday in January next to hear the Record and proceedings aforesaid, if it shall seem expedient for the said Susan Harden, And further to do and receive What our said Supreme Court before the judges thereof shall consider of the said Susan Harden in this behalf - Witness Thomas G Tyns Register & Master of said Chancery Court of said District. This 16th day of July 1849 And in the 74th year of the Independence of the United States of America

Test Thomas G Tyns R & M

Issued 16th day of July 1849

John Harden vs } Notice Susan Harden

Execute 13 day of Sept 1849

A plea [Ra??]

J Collier Shff by his special Deputy Edu^d. Hatchell

[page no] 467 [margin] Caption

The State of Alabama

Pleas had at a Chancery Court begun and helf for the Thirty - first Chancery District Northern Chancery Division for the County of Limestone at the Court house thereof in the Town of Athens on the 4th Monday being the 28th day of May in the year of Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty nine and 73rd year of the Independence of the United States of America before the Honorable David G Ligon Chancellor

[margin] Bill filed

John Hardin vs Bill for Divorce Susan Hardin Be it rememberedthat heretofore to wit, on the 11th day of August 1846 was filed in the Office of the Register and Master of the Chancery Court of the 31st Chancery District Northern Chancery Division for Limestone County, State of Alabama, a bill in the name of John Har din complainant against Susan Harden Defendant, in the words and figures as follows, to Wit,

[margin] Bill of Complaint To the Honorable, the Chancellor of the Northen Division of the State of Alabama, Sitting for the Thirty- first District at the Court house of Lime stone County.

Your Orator John Harden of the County of Limestone and State of Alabama , respectfully showeth unto your Honor that he was married to one susan Millhouse at the residence of her father in said County and State, on the second of June in the year of Our Lord Eighteen hundred and forty two; and that the said Susan continued to live with him in the matrimonial state, untill the fourteenth of July in the year suceeding. your Orator would further show your Honor that on the said fourteenth of July Eighteen hundred and forty three, his wife the said Susan, without any provocation and for causes totally unknown to your Orator, voluntarily left the bed and board of your Orator, her husband, with the intention of abandonment, and with the same intention has remained away from that time untill the filing of this Bill, by the space of more than three years. Your Orator farther shows your Honor, that he treated the said Susan, while she lived with him as his wife , with every kindness and affection; and that he employed every ?act/art? within his power, to secure a return of her affection, and to perpetuate the mutual tranquility and happiness of the family; and that after her voluntary and causeless departure he spared no exertion to induce her to return, but all was in vain.

Your Orator would farther show your Honor, that for more than three years im- mediately preceeding the filing of this Bill, in fact for a great number of years, your Orator has been a resident of Limestone County, in the State of Alabama, and the said Susan for most of that time, before her said marriage, and all since her unfortunate abandon - ment of your Orator, has lived in the same neighborhood.

Your Orator would farther show your Honor that the said Susan is now in possession of a large and valuable seperate Estate, created by the Will of her father who died within the last month.

In consideration of the premises, your Orator prays your Honor, that the said Susan Hardin, formerly Susan Millhouse, and now wife of your Orator, may be made party defendant to this Bill, and for that purpose that Subpoena issue according to Law, and she be required to answer - Orator farther prays that the bonds of Matrimony, heretofor solemnized and now subsisting between Complainant and Defendant, may be dissolved, annulled and made void, and that the Complainant may be divorced from the said defendant to all intents and purposes, and for such other and farther relief as may seem equitable, E. J. Jones Sol. for Compt.

[margin]Endorsement Filed in the Office of the Register of the Chancery Court of the 31st Chancery

[page no] 468

[margin] To Wit. District of the Northern Division of the State of Alabama, this the 10th day of August 1846, Test. Robert Austin R. & M. Subpoena

[margin]Subpoena for the Defendant The State of Alabama Thirty first Chancery District Northern Chancery Division

To any Sheriff of the State of Alabama Greeting.

We command you to Summon Susan Hardin, if to be found in. your County that she laying aside all excuses, personally appear before our next Court of Chancery to be holden at the Court house in the Town of Athens in the County of Limestone in and for said Thirty first Chancery District on the fourth Monday in May next And that she within thirty days after the service of this writ, according to law and the rules of said Court, answer the Bill of Complaint of John Hardin, exhibited against her the said Susan Hardin. And further to do and receive what our said Court shall have considered in that behalf, and this she shall in no wise omit, herein fail not and have you then and there this writ. Witness Robert Austin Register of said `court of Chancery at Office in the town of Athens Limestone County this 10th day of August 1846, and in the 71st year of the Independence of the United States of America. Issued this 10th day of August 1846.

Test Robert Austin, Register

[margin] Endorsement thereof (Endorsed) Executed August the 11th 1846. A. M. Sweany. Shff. (Defendants answer) The answer of Susannah J Hardin , to the Bill of Complaint, heretofore filed against her in the Chancery Court at Athens by John Hardin Complainant in which she is sued as Susan Hardin.

This Respondent saving and reserving to herself all advantages arising from the manifold errors, insufficiences, and untruths, in said Bill Contained, for answer thereto, or unto so much thereof as she is advised is material for her to answer unto, answering saith, - That it is true she intermarried with Complainant at the residence of her father in said County of Limestone on the 2 June 1842 and that on the 14th July 1843 she left the residence of her said husband, inten- ding it as a final seperation, not voluntarily and without cause, as is alleged in said Bill, but for cruel and inhuman treatment on his part, as herein after shown rendering it impossible for her to live with him, without a conscionsness of self degradation which would have rendered such an existence miserable.

Respondent further answering saith that about six or eight months after said marriage her said husband without any cause whatever, charged her with sexual intercourse with One Reuben A Glaze, he afterwards retracted said charge, and admitted that there was no cause for any such suspicion, and in this way they continued to live together, he occasionally making such unfounded assertions, until at last they were of such a character that she was compelled to leave him, and to seek an asylum elsewhere, she is now living with her aged mother, free from annoyan- ces of these vulgar and unjust accusations with which she was harrassed by said Complainant, the immediate cause of her leaving him, was, that a few days before said fourteenth July 1843, he accused her of having had sexual intercourse with a negro, she under these circumstances, and by reason of these false and slanderous charges, left the residence of said Complainant with the intention of never again living with him,

It is true that respondent