Brief on the resolution to dissolve marriage of

Henry and Catherine Cordes Rodefeld

Link: http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/pdf/pdf1868recon-1/07.13.1868.pdf

Petition of Henry Rodefeld for dissolving marriage.doc

Petition of Henry Rodefeld for dissolving marriage.pdf

Reconstruction Convention Journal, Page 289

CAPITOL, AUSTIN, TEXAS,

JULY 13, 1868.

Convention met pursuant to adjournment. Roll called. Quorum present. Prayer by the Chaplain. Journal of yesterday read and adopted.

Mr. Smith, of Galveston, presented a petition from H. Rodefeld, and asked its reference to the Committee on General Provisions.

To the Honorable Convention of the State of Texas,

Now in Session at the City of Austin.

The petition of Henry Rodefeld, a resident citizen of the county of Galveston, and State of Texas, respectfully represents :

That your petitioner, on the …….. day of…….. 1861, in the city of Galveston, in said State, intermarried with one Catherine Cordes; that said Catherine lived with your petitioner for about three months, and then left his home, being impelled thereto by an aberration of intellect, amounting to insanity; that as her husband and protector, your petitioner sought her out and compelled her to return to his home and protection; that subsequently the said Catherine became completely insane, and with the consent of your petitioner was placed in charge of her brother, to whom she was very much attached; that in the year 1862, her insanity assumed such a serious shape, and seemed so hopelessly permanent and incurable, that she was consigned to the Asylum at the city of Austin, provided for insane persons, and that since said year 1862, she has remained in said Asylum, in the same condition as to mind as when she was placed there, and without any hope on the part of petitioner, or her relations, that her reason will ever be restored. Your petitioner further says that since his intermarriage with the said Catherine Cordes, he has learned that before his marriage with her, she was often and frequently insane, but that she had intervals of apparent soundness of mind; of which fact your petitioner was wholly ignorant at the time of his marriage with her.

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Your petitioner further states that the said Catherine at the time of his marriage with her, had such an interval of apparent soundness of mind as to entirely and perfectly deceive him as to the condition of her mind; so much so as to induce him to believe that the said Catherine had been during her whole life, of sound mind, and especially that she was of sound mind at the time of her marriage with your petitioner; and your petitioner, under this belief, entered into said marriage with the said Catherine.

And your petitioner is advised by counsel learned in law, and he so believes, that if the said Catherine had such a lucid interval of soundness of mind at the time of said marriage, as would have rendered her competent to enter into and make a valid contract, then the said marriage was valid and binding upon your petitioner, for the reason that the consent required by law t9 make a valid contract in such an event was given, and that his marriage contract with the said Catherine would be held valid in such an event, even though she had been frequently insane before her marriage, and subsequently became wholly insane.

And your petitioner further states that such was the character of the lucid interval or period of soundness of mind of the said Catherine, at the time of marriage, that it would be impracticable, if not impossible, to prove conclusively to the satisfaction of a jury, that

she was of such unsound mind at the time of marriage as to render her incompetent to enter a valid marriage contract.

Your petitioner is further advised by counsel, and so believes, that he is without relief or remedy either in the Legislature or in the courts of the country, by enacting or decreeing a divorce, for the, following reasons, to wit:

The Constitution of the State prohibits the Legislature from granting divorces.--Art. VII., Sec. 13; of the Constitution.
The courts of the country have not been invested with the power to grant divorces on account of insanity.-See Article 607, O. 4' W. Digest.
Though at Common Law a marriage contract is void if at the time of marriage on of the contracting parties is of such unsound mind as to render him or her incompetent to enter into a valid contract, and the courts have the power to declare such marriage contracts void on the ground of want of capacity to consent in such party. But, as already stated, if such contracting party, at the time of marriage, was of such sound mind as to be competent to contract, then such marriage is valid, though such party was insane before the marriage, and subsequently became permanently insane.

And it has been already stated that the said Catherine was, at the time of said marriage, of such apparent soundness of mind as to be competent to enter into a valid contract, and that it would be impracticable, if not impossible, to prove satisfactorily to the contrary.

Wherefore your petitioner respectfully submits that he, being without relief or remedy in

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the Legislature or courts of the country, presents an equitable case for the interposition of the extraordinary powers of this Convention in his behalf. Wherefore he prays that the honorable Convention do ordain and declare that the bonds of matrimony between your petitioner and the said Catherine Cordes be forever dissolved.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

H. RODEFELD.

THE STATE OF TEXAS,

COUNTY OF GALVESTON.

Before the undersigned, Edward T. Austin, a Notary Public in and for said State and county, this day came and appeared Henry Rodefeld, to me personally well known, who having been by me duly sworn upon oath, said the facts set forth in the foregoing memorial and petition, are true, and at the same time, in my presence, subscribed said memorial and petition.

To certify all of which, I hereto subscribe my official signature as such Notary Public, and affix my seal of office at the city of Galveston, Texas, this the sixth day of

July, A. D., 1868.

EDWARD T. AUSTIN,

Notary Public for Galveston County.

TEXAS STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM,

July 10, 1868.

Mrs. Catherine Rodefeld, lunatic, in this institution, was stated to have been insane five years at the time of her admission into the Asylum, June, 1862, constituting now a period of eleven years; and while most medical superintendents regard cases of insanity of over one year's standing very doubtful of recovery, experience has shown that some cases of protracted insanity do recover; yet our prognosis in the case of Mrs. Catherine Rodefeld is unfavorable to a cure, or mental amelioration.

B. GRAHAM, M. D.,

Superintendent Lunatic Asylum.

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THE STATE OF TEXAS,

COUNTY OF GALVESTON.

The undersigned having been duly sworn upon oath, say that Catherine Cordes, wife of Henry Rodefeld, was, before her marriage to him, in 1861, often and frequently insane-that is, out of her right mind; and that after his marriage to her she became completely insane, and is now, as we are informed and believe, confined in the Insane Asylum, at Austin, Texas, as hopelessly insane.

M. MARI WALSTEIN.

Sworn to and subscribed before me at Galveston, this, 20th day of June, 1868.

Witness my hand and notarial seal this 20th day of June. 1868.

EDWARD T. AUSTIN,

Notary Public, for Galveston county.

Rodefelds of Galveston Texas