This Week's Story
click here to play audioTheophilus plots to place Elizabeth into another asylum.The Law of Coverture will not protect her.
This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.
You will not put me into the asylum again! part one
After three years of devious and unfair actions by Director McFarland and Theophilus, Elizabeth was to be released from Jacksonville State Asylum. The Jacksonville asylum trustees decreed, “Elizabeth P.W. Packard is ordered to be discharged after June 19, 1863.”
Elizabeth understood according to the Illinois State laws for married women she would not be allowed to take responsibility for herself.
She stated emphatically to herself, “I have no intention of being passed to my husband Theophilus. He ripped me from my home and children.
“Cousin Angeline has passed word to me that Theophilus plans to place me into another asylum where I can expect to stay for life. She and her husband have asserted that I am sane. Angeline reports that Theophilus has found an asylum, the State Lunatic Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts. Its policy is to turn no one from its doors. One of its trustees is an old friend of Theophilus.
“I am to leave here in three months. I need more time to prepare. I must finish more writing for my self-defense. If I can get my book published, I should be safer from assault from my husband.
“My eldest son Toffy has turned twenty-one. He is legally an adult. He has offered to accept legal responsibility for me. I am not entitled to a trial as a married woman. Only a trial can give me the freedom I seek to care for my children, bring help to women in Jacksonville State Asylum, and draw attention to the need for rights for women. The Law of Coverture needs change.”
In the 1800’s in the United States family law was based generally on the Law of Coverture developed in England common law. Gradually it was changed in the late 1800’s and 1900’s.
It is unbelievable for many people living in the 1900’s and 2000’s to understand how women’s rights have changed. Elizabeth, according to her legal rights and status as a married woman, was the property of her husband. She was denied the right to own property. She could not sign a contract without her husband’s permission. Her husband to have power over her property and legal custody over their children in case of divorce or separation.
The wife under the Law of Coverture is not an independent legal entity. She is to be under the protection of her husband.
Theophilus called himself a Christian minister. He apparently did not agree with an extended passage in the Bible found in Proverbs 31. It describes an outstanding married woman, as a woman who opens her mouth with wisdom and kindness. In the context of her culture, she evaluates a field for purchase, buys it, and plants a vineyard.
Elizabeth was also enterprising, a hard worker for her family and the needy, and able to speak with wisdom.
On June 18,1863 she was taken from her asylum room forcibly by three men under orders by Dr. McFarland and Theophilus. She did not know where she was being taken. After a train trip she was met by her loved cousin Angeline.
Todd and I, Barbara Steiner, are privileged to share this true story. We anticipate returning soon with another installment. Please check out thisweeksstory.com.
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