Christopher Creekmur, son of John Creekmur, married Rutha Ellis, daughter of Abraham Ellis, 24 August 1822 in Caldwell County, Kentucky. The young bride had high expectations for a happy marriage and did not know that just five years later she would be filing a petition for divorce. The following file is located in Caldwell County circuit court case files at the Glenn Martin Genealogy Library, Princeton, Kentucky.
Ruth Creekmur (late Ruth Ellis) humbly complaining showeth That she was single and unmarried, she lived in the house & family of her honorable father, and might have continued so, but being young and heedless, ardent and passionate as all young people are ... a time too, when the heart is most susceptible of impressions of love, a certain Christopher Creekmur, young, handsome & gallant, made his address ... under the appearance and character of a gentleman. By insinuation, deceitful courtesy and impassioned declarations of honorable love, he gained upon the young and susceptible heart of your oratrix, and they were married. As they stood before Hymen's sacred altar, and ... responded affirmatively to the [illegible] injunctions of the Priest, in the vows then made by Creekmur, your oratrix thought she had an eternal pledge and prim assurances of reciprocal love, affectionate kindness and tender regard. She returned from the church with sanguine hopes of lasting happiness and matrimonial bliss. But scarcely had they entered the threshold of the married life, before a cloud of horrible darkness spread its deadening shade and enveloped her of cruelty, barbarism and incontincy. She was taken sick ... before her recovery he departed from her, hopeless, friendless and heart broken. Near five years ago he abandoned her with an intention never to return.
From Kentucky he removed to Tennessee, and has there married another woman. This was more mortifying than every thing else. Until your oratrix was informed of the circumstances, she hoped she could reclaim her husband but this put an end to every hope, and from that moment she determined to apply ... she prays Creekmur may be made defendant to this bill and compelled to answer every [illegible] herein contained fully and completely and upon a final hearing she prays the court to divorce her a viculo matrimonii [1] from Creekmur and restore her to all the privileges of a single woman and for general relief ...
The petition was published for two calendar months in the Village Museum, "an authorized newspaper printed in Princeton." Christopher Creekmur did not respond to the petition and the jury adjudged and decreed that the complainant, Ruth Creekmur, be forever divorced from the defendant and that she be restored to all the privileges and rights of a femme sole.
Christopher Creekmur must have returned to Caldwell County as he married Mrs. Lucinda Townsen 28 January 1847 in Caldwell County. He also appears on the Caldwell County 1850 census.
[1] viculo matrimonii - complete divorce
Published 14 November 2013, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
1 comment:
Mark Lowe pointed me to your blog. Love the new info. . . Christopher is not my direct line. I descend through his sister, Winnifred. Looks like we need to look for Christopher Creekmur's Tennessee wife to get the mother of his older children.
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