Mariah's Divorce

Waiting on microfilm from Utah can be a timely, but rewarding, matter.

Earlier I had many posts on the 'Scarlett O'Hara' of my family tree, Mariah Booth Winfield Moffett/Maffett Booth. I had found her in Lawrence County, Alabama, where she had filed suit in a Civil action against her second husband and first cousin, Dr. George Washington Boothe. Both Mariah's mother Mary "Polly" Booth and G. W.'s father Harper Booth, were children of Thomas Booth of Mecklenburg County, Virginia. 

The marriage was not a happy one. In the suit, Mariah had accused George of being a drunk, a gambler and a spend thrift, having his way with her slaves left to her by her father, Joel Winfield and grandfather, Lt. Joshua Winfield. She said his actions toward her, and her only daughter, Mary Ann Newland Moffett, were 'cruel' and 'indifferent'. Two years after the marriage, she had filed suit. 

The suit and legal actions in court took place between 1838 and 1840. During this period, Mariah had turned guardianship of her affairs and property over to Robert Kernachan, her uncle by marriage, in neighboring Lauderdale County, Alabama. She had nearly every notable person in 3 or 4 counties to testify as to the misconduct of the good doctor, who promptly took off to Mississippi, after burying his mother Nancy Booth in Franklin County, Alabama, and settling in and around Itwamaba and Lee Counties in Ole Miss with his father, Harper and brothers John Fletcher and Thomas. His father seems to have owned property in 2 counties in Alabama and 4 in Mississippi. 

Just a few years after, in 1842, for unknown reasons, Mariah turned her affairs over to another relative, John Nicholas Malone, after having been defended in court by her couisn, Vinkler Jones. 

The papers had stated that a divorce was sought, but I had not been given a final date on the outcome. 

Then arrived the microfilm. It can not be copied, as the machines are not set up for that at the Mormon Church, which graciously allows researchers to use their library and equipment, but it could be photographed. Through the glass is not the best shot, but there it was, the defining information.

Under the lists of Alabama divorces of that era, a misspelled "Marian Boothe" from  George Washington "Boothe" January 21, 1843 Lawrence County. 

Mariah recieved her divorce. Her freedom from tyranny would be short-lived however, as she would die in Limestone County, with the Malone family, before the decade was up. 

Several ladies of her standing and in her family filed for divorce during that era. I had seen many within the Booth/Jones/Malone family on the divorce list. These independent Scarletts had the resources and gumption to "not take no crap', even in the early years of America. 

John Booth and Lucy are listed just above her. This was probably John who married Lucy Gilliam Malone. 

The story of Mariah does not end here. I will be returning to her shortly, and continuing with the saga of her daughter Mary Ann, and how their noted cousin, the great navigator and blockade runner, John Newland Maffet, Jr. sewed it all together. 

James Chappell Malone

There were alot of Malones. This family seemed to have dipped its toes into every bloodline that came out of  'Olde' Virginia and spread their seeds throughout the South. There were also a good number of Chappell's, so James Chappell Malone of Limestone County was not hurting for relatives. However, Mariah B. Winfield Moffat (sans Booth) was not one of them, not a close one any way.

The will of George Booth, proved in 1763 in Sussex County, Virginia, mentions a good number of Malones, as there was a strong intermarriage between the families in that generation, so James Chappell Malone may have been a distant relative of Mariah, as George was her  great, great-grandfather, but not a close one.

The Will of George BoothProved 3/16/1763 Sussex Co., VA

. . . to grandson George Booth, son of George Booth, Sussex County land south of Sappony Creek, also 100 acres to the north side of Sappony Creek, bounded by Ready (Reedy) Branch. To grandson George Parham, son of John Parham, land in Sussex County in the fork of Sappony Creek, 220 acres, and 40 pounds. To grandsons John Parham, Thomas Parham, and Matthew Parham, 40 pounds each, as well as to granddaughter Anne Heath. To my daughter Mary Parham, 100 pounds and personality [a slave??]. After her death, the Nego to return to my grandddaughter Anne Heath. To grandsons Reuben Booth and Thomas Booth and Gilliam Booth and John Booth and George Malone and Rueben Malone and Booth Malone and William Malone and to my granddaughters Mary Booth and Winifred Robertson and Wilmouth Malone: 40 pounds each. to my daughter Ann Malone, 100 pounds. To my granddaughter Lucy Jones, 40 pounds and personality [a slave??]. To my friend Lucy Hill 40 pounds, saddle & bridle and check linene. To my grandson George Booth, the rest of my estate. Executor: Grandson George Booth.

Signed George Booth his mark X
Wit: Amos Love, John Malone, Frederick Smith

The above Thomas Booth, mentioned as a grandson, was the grandfather of Mariah Booth Winfield. James Chappell Malone was the son of Thomas Chappell Malone and Mary Chappell. He was born on June 5,  1800 in Sussex County, Virginia and died September 8, 1863 in Marietta, Georgia. He married Eliza Frances Binford, another member of those grand Virginia families, and was the father of 9 children. Thomas C Malone was the son of Daniel Malone and Anna Chappell, while his wife was the daughter of Thomas Chappell and Elizabeth Tucker Malone. Thomas Chappell was the son of Thomas Chappell Sr and Mary Briggs; Elizabeth Tucker Malone was the daughter of William Malone (son of William Malone, Sr and Anne Tucker) and Mary Hill. Daniel Malone, father of Thomas C. Malone, above, was the brother of Elizabeth Tucker Malone and his wife Anna, was the daughter of Thomas Chapell, Sr. and Mary Briggs, meaning Daniel and Anna were first cousins and that James C Malones parents were both first and second cousins to each other, so while James C Malone was related to himself several times over, he was not in any way a close relative of Mariah B Winfield Moffett Booth.


So, when Mariah took Robert Kernachan to court in 1843 and requested that guardianship be transferred from her uncle-in-law, Robert, to James C Malone, esquire, who was James to her?

He was then, a gentleman, likely someone she had met and trusted the integrity of. With this transfer, Mariah and her daughter Mary Ann Newland Moffett, had moved from Lauderdale County, Alabama, into Limestone County, to the growing little town of Athens.


In this book:

Vanderbilt University Quarterly, Volume 7

 By Vanderbilt University

 A magnificent oration is given on the attributes of James Chappell Malone, Esq. in a section devoted to his son, Thomas H. Malone.

It says, "James Chappell Malone the father, as we have seen, was born in Sussex County, Virginia about twenty miles from Petersburgh, in about the year 1800, whence he removed with his family to the valley of the Tennessee, in Alabama in 1818. He married Eliza Frances Hardiman Binford, already mentioned, in whom was exemplified to a marked degree, that sweet, gentle repose of manner which characterized the well-bred Southern woman of the old regime. He was a man of mark both intellectually and physically and withall had such strength of moral and religious fiber -doubtless the heritage of his Huguenot blood- that the allurements neither of social prestige, nor of wealth, nor of leisure could swerve him from a life of deep personal piety."

Link to description of ancestry of James C Malone

The parents of James C Malone


The Vanderbuilt Quarterly also gives this description of Judge Malone's home in Athens, which Mariah had resided in after her departure from the Kernachan abode.

"When not more than forty-one or two years of age, ........he purchased a tract of some thousand acres of land not more than a mile from the town of Athens, Alabama, within easy reach of his plantations, chosen with reference to its situation, rather than its fertility. On it he erected a typical Southern mansion, attractive alike in the generous amplitude of its space, and the beauty of its architecture, and committing his plantations to the care of overseers, (visiting each one of them nearly every week), he devoted himself to the beautification and care of his home, to his orchards, etc, to the enjoyment of books and the chase, the rearing and training of his children, and to that dignified leisure that sat so well upon the Southern planter of olden time. To his home, he gave the name Secluseval."

A citizen of Athens gives this description of Secluseval:

"The typical roomy elegant home, of his then wealthy, aristocratic parents, was noted for its lavish, genuine, but unostentatious hospitality. It was one of some half score homes in or very near Athens, noted for the honesty of purpose, refinement, culture and learning of the indwellers; the homes of the Colemans, Vassars, Richardsons, Malones, Featherstones, Lockharts and a few others."

So we see that the home where Mariah and her young daughter moved to was one of comfort and owned by a wealthy Southern gentleman with the old Virginia ties of her own family. Judge Malone did for Mariah one last favor and that favor would last for decades and allow her to be found.

Shocking Revelations

I recently the 19 page document that is the 1838-1840 Civil Suit that Mariah Booth Winfield Moffat Booth brought against her husband and others. While the ancient script is hard to make out in places and full of "legalese", it's meaning is clear and there are enough words that are deciperable to transfer meaning. 

It is actally a grouping of documents and Miss Mariah aka 'Scarlett' is suing er'body. 

She is not happy and what has befallen her is not to her liking. When Mariah married the first time in 1826 to Dr. James Moffatt or Moffett of Fayetteville, NC and Chester County, SC, she rather naively put her sizable estate under the control of her brother-in-law, Dr. William H Moffett of Fayetteville during the marriage contract. Why her brother-in-law and not her husband, I have not yet determined. When she married her first cousin, Dr. George Washington Booth, in 1836,  she declared him trustee and a document transferring trusteeship was issued wherein Dr. Moffett found Dr. G. W. Booth to be an able recipient of the trust. 

Mariah and James Moffat/Moffett had one child, Mary Ann, who is shown in the 1830 census of Marlboro County in South Carolina as being a female under the age of 5, so she was born circa 1827-1830, as her parents wed in 1826. By 1836, when Mariah wed Dr. Booth at her home at Level Green in Marlboro County, her father Joel Winfield's plantation, Dr. James Maffett was declared deceased and Mariah and her child relocated to Lawrence County, Alabama, where her Uncle Harper Booth had removed from Mecklenburg County, Virginia with a stop in Halifax County, North Carolina. 

The first page of the 1838 documents is titled "Maria Booth & Mary Ann Moffitt vs George Booth & William Moffitt. Circuit Court 1838 Chancery sitting. 

In this document, several members of the Booth family are called to testify. Those served are from various counties in Alabama. This second to the side states that Maria Booth and Mary Ann Moffet "by their next friend Vinkler Jones Complnt. "

vs Geo. W. Booth + Thos. H. Booth + others  Depfts. 

The defendants Geo W Booth and Thomas H Booth will take notice that on the 27th day of the present month at Bonds Farm house at Leighton in Lawrence County, Alabama, the complaintants will take the deposition John L Townes, Alexander G. Booth, Sherrod Anderson, Amos Jarman, Lunsford A Sledge, Charles Ottaway, John J Morrow + Samuel Scott. And on the next day, the Complaintants will take the Deposition of  Sarah Noel, Reuben Booth, Minerva R Jones, Maria S Booth, Charles G Young, William W Harper and Thomas B Jones. (The name of Robert Kernachan has been marked out.) at the dwelling house of Mrs. Judith Jones in Lawrence County, Alabama to b?*** t as in d**n* in said cause pending in the Chancery Court at Moulton in the County aforesaid. 

May 12 1840                              Signature of   Irvine


And in the same can the complts will take the deposition of  of Robert Kernachan  at the office  of Joseph in the town of Florence in Lauderdale County State of Alabama on the 21 st day of  May instant to be read as evidence in Compts behalf on the trial of said cause. 

May 12 1840               J. L.  Irvine  Sol.  for Compts.  











This document will take a considerable amount of time to interpret and decipher. May of the pages are smeared and the handwriting difficult to read. There are juicy details in the middle that give way to the personalities and lifestyles of the Booth family and of Mariah and G. W. in particular.

The meat of the entire document can be summed up in its last paragraph, however.

And it is further decreed that the bonds of matrimony heretofore existing  between the said Maria B Booth and George W Booth be desolved and  that the said Maria B  be hereforeto divorced  from the said George W Booth and that the said George W Booth pay the costs of this said ----. 

A Bowie, Chancelor


As I had guessed, Mariah and George were divorced, the proceedings beginning only two years after their marriage.

The accusations within and the persons mentioned in the suit were major players in the early history of Alabama, most of them having strong Virginia and Carolina ties, and most of them interelated. My next step is to interpret page by page, to find out  Mariah's accusations against her husband, Dr. George Washington Booth and his brothers and then to the mystery following, Where does she go from here? and What happened to her daughter, Mary Ann Moffet?

The 1840 Chancery Suit

One of the documents I have waited a great deal of time for has arrived. This is the first page of the Chancery Suit between Mariah Winfield Booth, et al, and her second husband, George Washington Booth and his brother, Thomas Harper Booth. 

The document was simply an inquisition into whether Maria was owed money given to her husband during the hire of two servants by his relatives. I am awaiting other documents. Mariah and Dr. Booth may have been separated by then. Married couples had trouble in the 1800's just as much as they do today. They just handled it differently. 

I am awaiting other documents that might help me paint a broader picture, but this one was very important in helping me to establish a few things.

First: The less than 5 year old girl shown as a dash in the home of James Moffett in 1830 did not die. She is listed with her mother in this chancery suit and her name was Mary Ann Moffett.

Second: Mariah Booth Winfield Booth was alive and well in 1840.

Third: I know where Dr. George Washington Booth settled with his wife (and her daughter), after their 1836 marriage. He took her back to his home is Lawrence County, Alabama. 

But more research is needed and other questions arise.

1) Dr. Booth is in Mississippi in 1850, and no Mariah. Did she die in Alabama?

2) Did Mary Ann Moffett marry, and if so who? And where did she live? And when did she die? Did she have descendants?

3) Did Mariah and Washington have any children?

Every detail is a piece of a puzzle. Will it ever be complete?

The document reads:  The State of Alabama Lawrence County in pursuance to the written....came before me Manaseah B Hampton, Justice of the Peace....on the 27th day of May 1840, at the Town House of W. W. Bower...Alexander G Booth and John J Morrow both of legal age... wherein Mariah Booth and Mary Ann Moffitt complained against George W. Booth and Thomas H. Booth...

To Alex Booth was asked 4 questions:

Did you hire a negro boy from George W Booth in the year 1838?

Answer: I Did

What was you to give for the hire of said Negro Boy named Jim?

Answer: One hundred and forty dollars

How long did you keep the boy in your employment?

Answer: Nearly 5 months

What amount of  money did you pay and to whom did you pay it?

Answer: I paid to my father Harper Booth forty dollars for the benefit of George W. Booth.

The same questions were asked of a Mr. John J Morrow concerning the hire of "Bill".

Mariah and her daughters complaint was that they were entitled to a share of the money paid for the hiring due to the fact that the boys were left to her as part of her inheritance and that her husband, possibly estranged, owed that share to her.

Hopefully, the 1838 documents will make things even more clear.

Now to find out more about Mary Ann Moffett.