Legal Transcript From A 1920 Tennessee Divorce Case

(DIVORCE). DS. 5pgs. March 17, 1920. Anderson County, Tennessee. A typed legal document from the divorce of S. R. Worthington and Leona Worthington. It transcribes Leona Worthington’s answers in cross examination. “For answer this defendant says: 1. That she admits that she and the complainant were married April 3, 1919, and that they separated on or about July 20, 1919…Defendant denies that a short time after their marriage she commence to nag and abuse complainant and kept that up constantly…On one occasion the complainant had so abused the defendant by making various and divers accusations against her and she told him that he had acted the rascal. She further denies that she ever so abused and quarreled with the complainant and treated him so cruel and inhuman that she drove him from his own home; and she further denies that she ever so abused him that he was forced to leave his bed and go up-stairs to try to get a little sleep and rest; and that she went up-stairs and insisted that he come back down and that she then quarreled with him the remainder of the night…She further denies that she has mistreated the complainant and that she has been so cruel and inhuman in her treatment of him as to make it unsafe for him to live and cohabitate with her, and she further denies calling him all sorts of vile names and quarrelling with him until she made his home a very bad place…That after the complainant made the statement about seeing his lawyer and being advised to do everything he could to aggravate and being advised to do everything he could to aggravate her and cause her to leave, the complainant seemed to do everything he could to carry out the advise [sic] of his lawyer, and continually quarrelled [sic] at the defendant, accusing her of staying there with him with the sole purpose of getting his property, and made her life so miserable and unhappy that she felt that it was impossible for her to longer live with him and she was forced by his cruel and inhuman treatment of her to leave his home and go back to the home of her son in Union County where she is now living…”. The couple seems to have quarreled about strange things, like milking cows in good clothes and spending too much money on undergarments. Leona Worthington asked for a divorce, alimony, attorney’s fees, and her old name back. She signed “X”, and her attorney signed twice for her. A notary and two others also signed. The document is extensively annotated in pencil on the versos of several pages, as well as corrected on the recto in the hand of Leona Worthington’s lawyer. It is in very good condition with minor wear. The first page is no longer attached to the staples that holds together the other sheets.