Voice of the People: Daily Life in the Antebellum Rural Delaware County New York Area

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Family and Daily Life Homepage | Delaware Gazette: July 12, 1821:  Breach of Promise of Marriage suit brought  by "the blighted rose"

Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4


Background: This was the first breach of promise lawsuit in Delaware County. Plaintiff Jerusha Foote brought an action of $5,000  in damages for Breach of Promise of Marriage against Harry Newell. 


Note: The length of the story has necessitated presenting it in four sections.  There may be some repetition from one section to the next.

Excerpt from section 3:

"...The Judge in his charge to the Jury, awakened every feeling and called forth the tenderest sensibilities of our nature--As it came from, so it touched the finest fibres of the heart.  The fair plaintiff who was present, or to use the expression of the Judge, 'the blighted rose", had a tendency to heighten the effect."

"The Jury were out but a few moments when they brought in a virdict of Three Thousand Dollars..."

"...Money is a poor substitute for contented mind--a miserable balsam to pour into a broken heart.--"A wounded spirit who can bear"--It cannot restore the glow of health to her cheek which a short time since enlivened it...It cannot remove the melancholy that prays upon her soul; but it can furnish food and raiment to the body which will soon be needed by her for she can expect no legacy from her aged and indigent parents, whose protecting care will shortly be withdrawn from her by the hand of Providence..."


Newspaper courtesy of the Delaware County Historical Association Archives, 46549 State Hwy 10, Delhi, NY, 13753.

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