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"But a Mournful Remedy": Divorce in Two Texas Counties, 1841-1880 (open access)

"But a Mournful Remedy": Divorce in Two Texas Counties, 1841-1880

Little scholarship has been dedicated to nineteenth-century Texas family life and no published scholarship to date has addressed the more specific topic of divorce. This study attempts to fill that gap in the historiography through a quantitative analysis of 373 divorce actions filed in Washington and Harrison Counties. The findings show a high degree of equity between men and women in court decisions granting divorces, and in property division and custody rulings. Texas women enjoyed a relatively high degree of legal and personal autonomy, which can be attributed, in part, to a property-rights heritage from Spanish civil law.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Pruitt, Francelle LeNaee
System: The UNT Digital Library