I am currently writing a dissertation about Texas slavery, race, and women’s rights in Texas. The married woman’s property laws began in the southern territories in the 1830s. Mississippi and Texas being the first states. Using Heinonline, and google scholar the secondary literature, cases (superior courts), treaties, articles and books are rich with how to understand the complexity of the ways that courts on many levels dealt with “property.” My own work traces the development of southern white women slave owners to African American woman who claim property after the Civil War. Please see Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers work, and Laurel Clark Shire’s recent book set in Florida.
Candace Gray
ABD, Morgan State University
> On Mar 26, 2020, at 11:44 AM, Leland Ness <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> I have several questions that have arisen in the last several decades of my local history quest, but I figure I will start with the easiest. It is probably one that many subscribers will know off the top of their heads.
>
> In researching land titles at the local courthouses for the period 1890-1920 I often find that ownership is listed solely in the name of the wife of a married couple.
>
> I guess this could be interpreted as evidence of an early "woke" and progressive Virginia, but I suspect the reason is more prosaic. Real estate taxes were levied regardless of who technically owned the property, but perhaps there were benefits in the event of bankruptcy? Or perhaps intestate death? Did they not have joint tenancy with rights of survivorship?
>
> Any thoughts on why a married couple would put their house in the name of the wife only in that period?
>
> Many thanks
>
> Leland Ness
>
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