Robinson v. Robinson
| Decision Date | 31 December 1846 |
| Citation | 26 Tenn. 440 |
| Parties | ROBINSON v. ROBINSON. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
This is a bill which was filed by Jane Robinson, in the chancery court at Shelbyville, against her husband, Joseph Robinson, for a divorce and maintenance.
The following decree, made in the premises, exhibits the facts and the views of the chancellor thereupon:
“Be it remembered that this cause came on for hearing before the Hon. B. L. Ridley, chancellor, etc., on the 27th day of August, 1846, upon bill, answer, and proof; and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that complainant and defendant intermarried in Bedford county, Tennessee, in the year 1836, and that they have resided in Bedford county ever since said marriage.
And it further appearing to the satisfaction of the court that for several years past that said defendant was guilty of cruel, inhuman, and abusive treatment of said wife; that he frequently cursed and abused her, and ordered her out of his house, and that he has been in the habit of drinking to excess for several years, and that he offered such indignities to her person as to render her condition intolerable; that in October, 1845, he beat and choked his said wife, and inflicted several severe wounds and bruises upon her head, neck, and other parts of her body, and that, by his cruel treatment of her, and the indignities offered to her person, she was compelled to leave him and seek protection from her father, about the last of October, 1845, with whom she has resided ever since.
And it further appearing to the court that complainant is a woman of fair name and reputation; is of economical, prudent, and industrious habits. It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the bonds of matrimony now subsisting between the said complainant and said defendant, Joseph Robinson, be dissolved, annulled, and for naught held, and the complainant be restored to all the privileges of a feme sole. It further appearing to the court that complainant and defendant have four children, Robert J., Rufus Alexander, Margaret Francis, and Thomas David Robinson--the oldest being about nine or ten years of age--who are now in the custody of defendant; and, from said defendant's habits of intemperance, he is a very unfit person to raise and educate said children; that it is obviously for their benefit and advantage, at least, for the three youngest to be placed in the custody of complainant.
And it further appearing to the satisfaction of the court that said defendant, besides other property, owns a tract of land containing about two hundred and fifty acres, situate in said county of Bedford, three miles west of Shelbyville, and upon which he now resides; and another 80-acre tract of land; and that he also owns a negro woman named Kate, and her two small children, and other personal property, besides a negro man. And it also appearing to the satisfaction of the court that complainant has no property or means of support, but is wholly dependent on her father. It is therefore ordered and decreed by the court that said defendant deliver complainant her two younger children, Margaret Francis and ...
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