Description:

Future Secretary of the Interior Caleb B. Smith Writes Petition for Divorce in Antebellum Indiana

President Abraham Lincoln appointed Caleb Blood Smith of Indiana as his first Secretary of the Interior, a position he held for nearly two years. Smith had been an attorney and Whig/Republican politician in Indiana. In 1830, he wrote and filed this petition for his client Sarah Rice Sims (1792-1852), who sought a divorce from her abusive husband Larkin Sims (1780-1853). The couple had at least six children between 1805 and 1822. The court apparently granted the divorce, as Larkin Sims married Elizabeth Welch in Kentucky in 1836. Sarah Rice continued to live in Collinsville, Indiana, until her death.

CALEB BLOOD SMITH, Autograph Document Signed, Petition for Divorce, June 10, 1830, Fayette County, Indiana. 2 pp., 8" x 12". Expected folds; tape repair to center fold; some toning; very good.

Excerpts:
"Your petitioner Sarah Sims humbly complaining sheweth unto your honours, that about the year 1805, she then Sarah Rice intermarried with Larkin Sims, in the county of Madison, State of Virginia, that she lived with said Larkin Sims in the State of Virginia until, sometime about the year 1810 when they moved to the County of Fayette, State of Indiana, where they have ever since lived, that ever since she, your petitioner was married to the said Larkin Sims, she has treated him in a kind, dutifull and affectionate manner, but that he unmindfull of her kind treatment and regardless of the marriage contract, has ever since their marriage treated her in a harsh, cruel and barbarous manner, frequently using personal violence, and beating her severely."
"Your petitioner therefor humbly prays your honours to grant her a divorce from the said Larkin Sims and also to grant her such alimony out of the property of said Larkin, as to your honours may seem just and reasonable and grant such other relief as your honours may deem just and your petitioner will ever pray &c.
Caleb B. Smith Atty pro petitioner
"

Historical Background:
As a territory, Indiana permitted divorce on the grounds of cruel treatment, abandonment, and conviction of a felony. After Indiana became a state in 1816, it added further provisions to its divorce code. In 1838, habitual drunkenness for two years or more was added as a justification for divorce, and the legislature gave courts more discretionary powers to end marriages. In its Revised Statutes of 1843, Indiana retained the six major grounds for divorce—adultery, impotence, abandonment, cruel treatment, drunkenness, and conviction of crimes—and it kept the discretionary authority granted to courts. By the 1840s, Indiana was renowned for have the most liberal divorce law in the nation.

Caleb Blood Smith (1808-1864) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and moved with his family to Ohio in 1814. He attended Miami University from 1825 to 1826 and Cincinnati College in 1828, where he read law. He conducted a law practice in Connersville, the county seat of Fayette County, Indiana, from 1828 to 1837. He served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1832 to 1837 and from 1840 to 1841. He represented Indiana as a Whig in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1843 to 1849. President Zachary Taylor appointed him as a member of a board of commissioners to adjust claims with Mexico after the Mexican War, a position he held from 1849 to 1851. He resumed his law practice in Cincinnati from 1851 to 1859. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him as Secretary of the Interior, a position he held from March 1861 to January 1, 1863. Lincoln appointed Smith as judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Indiana, a position he held from December 16, 1862, until his death just over a year later.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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