Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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Sec[Section] 1 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly; That the bands of Matrimony be, and the same are hereby dissolved, between Martha Lame, and William Lame her Husband; and that the nome of Martha Lame, is hereby changed to “Martha Wallace” her maiden name.

Sec 2 That the bands of Matrimony be; and the same are hereby dissolved; between Ann Middleton, and William Middleton her Husband; Frances Moore, and John Moore her Husband; Elizabeth Taylor, and Thomas Taylor her Husband; Melinda Antle, and Willis Antle her Husband; Mary Mauzey, and John. A. Mauzey her Husband; Ezekiel Shinkle, and Eliza Margaret his Wife; Moses Kurtz, and Lucinda his Wife;2

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An Act for the relief of the persons therein named

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[02]/[02]/[1836]
1

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[02]/[02]/[1836]
not or^d[ordered] to 2^d reading.

1Responding to a petition, Robert Smith of a select committee introduced HB 164 in the House of Representatives on February 2, 1836. The House decided against reading the bill a second time, by a vote of 27 yeas to 50 nays, Abraham Lincoln voting yea.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Tenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their First Session (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1836), 449-50.

2Although rare, legislative divorce was available in Illinois from 1818 until the Illinois Constitution of 1848, although there were no legislative divorces after 1838, when that body granted its last divorce by legislative act. After that time, all divorces in the state fell within the jurisdiction of the circuit courts.
Illinois Constitution, Article 3, Sec. 32 (1848); Eugene L. Gross and William L. Gross, An Index to All the Laws of the State of Illinois (Springfield: E. L. & W. L. Gross, 1869), 13; “An Act concerning Divorces,” approved 1 June 1827, The Revised Code of Laws of Illinois (1827), 181.