ALABAMA HERITAGE
  • Magazine
    • Current and Back Issues >
      • Back Issues 141-150 >
        • Issue 147, Winter 2023
        • Issue 146, Fall 2022
        • Issue 145, Summer 2022
        • Issue 144, Spring 2022
        • Issue 143, Winter 2022
        • Issue 142, Fall 2021
        • Issue 141, Summer 2021
      • Back Issues 131-140 >
        • Issue 140, Spring 2021
        • Issue 139, Winter 2021
        • Issue 138, Fall 2020
        • Issue 137, Summer 2020
        • Issue 136, Spring 2020
        • Issue 135, Winter 2020
        • Issue 134, Fall 2019
        • Issue 133, Summer 2019
        • Issue 132 Spring 2019
        • Issue 131, Winter 2019
      • Back Issues 121-130 >
        • Issue 130, Fall 2018
        • Issue 129, Summer 2018
        • Issue 128, Spring 2018
        • Issue 127, Winter 2018
        • Issue 126, Fall 2017
        • Issue 125 Summer 2017
        • Issue 124, Spring 2017
        • Issue 123, Winter 2017
        • Issue 122, Fall 2016
        • Issue 121, Summer 2016
      • Back Issues 111-120 >
        • Issue 120, Spring 2016
        • Issue 119, Winter 2016
        • Issue 118, Fall 2015
        • Issue 117, Summer 2015
        • Issue 116, Spring 2015
        • Issue 115, Winter 2015
        • Issue 114, Fall 2014
        • Issue 113, Summer 2014
        • Issue 112, Spring 2014
        • Issue 111, Winter 2014
      • Back Issues 101-110 >
        • Issue 110, Fall 2013
        • Issue 109, Summer 2013
        • Issue 108, Spring 2013
        • Issue 107, Winter 2013
        • Issue 106, Fall 2012
        • Issue 105, Summer 2012
        • Issue 104, Spring 2012
        • Issue 103, Winter 2012
        • Issue 102, Fall 2011
        • Issue 101, Summer 2011
      • Back Issues 91-100 >
        • Issue 100, Spring 2011
        • Issue 99, Winter 2011
        • Issue 98, Fall 2010
        • Issue 97, Summer 2010
        • Issue 96, Spring 2010
        • Issue 95, Winter 2010
        • Issue 94, Fall 2009
        • Issue 93, Summer 2009
        • Issue 92, Spring 2009
        • Issue 91, Winter 2009
      • Back Issues 81-90 >
        • Issue 90, Fall 2008
        • Issue 89, Summer 2008
        • Issue 88, Spring 2008
        • Issue 87, Winter 2008
        • Issue 86, Fall 2007
        • Issue 85, Summer 2007
        • Issue 84, Spring 2007
        • Issue 83, Winter 2007
        • Issue 82, Fall 2006
        • Issue 81, Summer 2006
      • Back Issues 71-80 >
        • Issue 80, Spring 2006
        • Issue 79, Winter 2006
        • Issue 78, Fall 2005
        • Issue 77, Summer 2005
        • Issue 76, Spring 2005
        • Issue 75, Winter 2005
        • Issue 74, Fall 2004
        • Issue 73, Summer 2004
        • Issue 72, Spring 2004
        • Issue 71, Winter 2004
      • Back Issues 61-70 >
        • Issue 70, Fall 2003
        • Issue 69, Summer 2003
        • Issue 68, Spring 2003
        • Issue 67, Winter 2003
        • Issue 66, Fall 2002
        • Issue 65, Summer 2002
        • Issue 64, Spring 2002
        • Issue 63, Winter 2002
        • Issue 62, Fall 2001
        • Issue 61, Summer 2001
      • Back Issues 51-60 >
        • Issue 60, Spring 2001
        • Issue 59, Winter 2001
        • Issue 58, Fall 2000
        • Issue 57, Summer 2000
        • Issue 56, Spring 2000
        • Issue 55, Winter 2000
        • Issue 54, Fall 1999
        • Issue 53, Summer 1999
        • Issue 52, Spring 1999
        • Issue 51, Winter 1999
      • Back Issues 41-50 >
        • Issue 50, Fall 1998
        • Issue 49, Summer 1998
        • Issue 48, Spring 1998
        • Issue 47, Winter 1998
        • Issue 46, Fall 1997
        • Issue 45, Summer 1997
        • Issue 44, Spring 1997
        • Issue 43, Winter 1997
        • Issue 42, Fall 1996
        • Issue 41, Summer 1996
      • Back Issues 31-40 >
        • Issue 40, Spring 1996
        • Issue 39, Winter 1996
        • Issue 38, Fall 1995
        • Issue 37, Summer 1995
        • Issue 36, Spring 1995
        • Issue 35, Winter 1995
        • Issue 34, Fall 1994
        • Issue 33, Summer 1994
        • Issue 32, Spring 1994
        • Issue 31, Winter 1994
      • Back Issues 21-30 >
        • Issue 30, Fall 1993
        • Issue 29, Summer 1993
        • Issue 28, Spring 1993
        • Issue 27, Winter 1993
        • Issue 26, Fall 1992
        • Issue 25, Summer 1992
        • Issue 24, Spring 1992
        • Issue 23, Winter 1992
        • Issue 22, Fall 1991
        • Issue 21, Summer 1991
      • Back Issues 11-20 >
        • Issue 20, Spring 1991
        • Issue 19, Winter 1991
        • Issue 18, Fall 1990
        • Issue 17, Summer 1990
        • Issue 16, Spring 1990
        • Issue 15, Winter 1990
        • Issue 14, Fall 1989
        • Issue 13, Summer 1989
        • Issue 12, Spring 1989
        • Issue 11, Winter 1989
      • Back Issues 1-10 >
        • Issue 10, Fall 1988
        • Issue 9, Summer 1988
        • Issue 8, Spring 1988
        • Issue 7, Winter 1988
        • Issue 6, Fall 1987
        • Issue 5, Summer 1987
        • Issue 4, Spring 1987
        • Issue 3, Winter 1987
        • Issue 2, Fall 1986
        • Issue 1, Summer 1986
    • Digital Features
    • Links of Interest
    • Bonus Materials >
      • Adventures in Genealogy
      • Alabama Heritage Blog
      • Alabama Territory
      • Becoming Alabama >
        • Creek War Era
        • Civil War Era
        • Civil Rights Movement
      • From the Vault
      • History in Ruins
      • Places in Peril
      • Recipes
  • Online Store
    • Customer Service
  • About Us
    • Awards
    • Meet Our Team
    • News
    • Writer's Guidelines and Submissions
  • Search
  • Donate
Published by The University of Alabama,
The University of Alabama at Birmingham,
and the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Creel v. Creel: Divorce and Its Many Layers

7/1/2020

0 Comments

 
When asked, as part of my work at the state archives, to locate a divorce record for Rev. Albert Lee Creel—I did not expect to find much. Creel, a Methodist preacher born in Mississippi in 1859, lived only briefly in Alabama. What I found, though, was layer upon layer of insight into private lives at the turn of the nineteenth century. Creel v. Creel offers an excellent study in why divorce cases are worth preserving. 
Creel’s first marriage, to Eliza Jones in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, in 1876, ended in divorce in 1900. While marriages usually can be discovered online, divorce cases are more elusive. Most Alabama divorce records must be accessed through county records on microfilm or at the county courthouse. Here at the archives, we have a collection of microfilm records and a very limited collection of physical county records that can be accessed in our research room. Fortunately, in this case, we had the 240-page account of A. L. Creel vs. E. A. Creel—the largest and most detailed divorce record I have reviewed.
 
The couple separated either in December 1893 (according to Albert) or December 1894 (according to Eliza), and the difference matters. Both agreed the separation began after Albert left for Hammond, Louisiana, to perform work as a minister. Most of the witness timeline of separation aligned with Albert’s date. The only two witnesses who gave the year as 1894 were Eliza and the couple’s daughter, Ida.
 
Albert and Eliza disagreed also on who abandoned whom. He claimed Eliza had moved out of their home in early 1894, while he was traveling. He also alleged that he had caught his wife being unfaithful with Mike Moudy, a man seventeen years her junior who worked and lived with the Creels before Albert went to Louisiana. A number of witnesses supported the accusation. They disagreed about exactly where Eliza moved during Albert’s absence, but most claimed she went to Neshoba County, Mississippi, residing in the household of her son Tom’s in-laws, Sam and Martha Goss, where Moudy was also staying. None of the witnesses, however, suggested that the Gosses had knowledge or involvement in an affair between the two.
 
Eliza’s testimony painted a different picture. She claimed Albert abandoned their family when he left for Louisiana. In early 1894, two of the Creel children—Tom and Ada— were married and gone. The five children living at home were Ida, age seventeen; Charlie, twelve; Bradley, eight; Azzie, five; and Maude, an infant. Eliza testified that they ran out of provisions, which forced her to move in with Tom. Eliza denied adultery or ever living with Moudy or in the Goss household. She further claimed that after six weeks away, Albert came back and took the four oldest children living at home, leaving the youngest, Maude.
 
Maude and the dispute over the separation date become particularly important to this case from a genealogical perspective. Albert and other witnesses claimed that Maude was Moudy’s child, not Creel’s. Albert even produced a letter, purportedly in Eliza’s own hand, in which she confessed Maude was not his and offered to give the child to Moudy if her husband would return to her.
 
Eliza and her daughter Ida Dennis—by this time married— both denied the claim. Her case depended, however, on the disputed date of Albert’s departure for Louisiana. Both Eliza and Albert agreed that Maude was born in November 1894. If Albert’s professed departure date of December 1893 was correct, Maude would have been conceived while he was far away. If he departed in December 1894, as Eliza claimed, Maude was conceived and born before he departed.
 
With Albert as the complainant, much of the case’s evidence centered on the allegations against Eliza, and witnesses were chosen to that end. Still, evidence cast a shadow on Albert’s character as well. One of the first witnesses, J. L. Scarborough, testified that Albert had Eliza assaulted by the “white caps” in 1897, punishing her alleged involvement with Moudy. While the witness gave no further details about these visitors, he likely refers to a vigilante group, possibly the Ku Klux Klan, using fear tactics to enforce a moral code.
 
Albert’s fidelity also came into question. Scarborough claimed he gave Eliza a sexually transmitted disease. Eliza testified that he had been sending “love letters” to a woman named Elmora Johnson Dennis. Testimony that Albert was seeing a woman in Choctaw County, Alabama, though still legally married to Eliza, might be supported by surviving records. A federal census taker placed Albert (designated as a widower) in a boarding house just over the Alabama state line in Womack Hill, Choctaw County, on June 12, 1900. Two households away lived the widowed dressmaker Nancy Lillian “Lillie” Brown, a thirty-five-year-old mother of three. Albert married Brown on February 5, 1901, just months after his divorce was final.
 
A Mississippi court had dismissed a divorce suit Albert filed against Eliza a few years earlier in Meridian. Albert and his Mississippi lawyer, F. V. Braham, testified that Albert had been too sick to come back from Alabama to testify. However, the Choctaw County court granted him a divorce from Eliza in 1900.
 
Scarborough testified about why Albert needed a divorce. During 1893 and 1894, Albert had left his traditional Methodist pastorage and gone itinerant with what Scarborough called a “Holiness Band.” He testified that Eliza’s questionable reputation had generated speculation that Albert would have to divorce her in order to remain a preacher. At the time of the divorce, though, Albert was actively preaching in Choctaw County. Local news accounts praised his skill as he pastored a Methodist Protestant church and led revival meetings around the area.
 
Albert and Lillie had a baby boy they named Scarborough in 1903, and she died May 10, 1906. Sixteen months later, he welcomed a new daughter, Esther, with his third wife, Sallie Anderson, and another daughter, Ollie, in 1909. Somewhere along the way he had relocated to Wayne County, Mississippi, where he died in 1925. Sallie was buried with him there in 1956.
 
At the time of the divorce, Eliza lived with her four remaining minor children next door to her son Tom in Neshoba County, Mississippi. She never remarried and lived with her son William Bradley Creel in Newton County, Mississippi, until her death in 1939. She was also flagged as a widow in all but one of the federal censuses after her divorce.
 
Moudy married Lottie Laurabelle Savell in 1895, and they had eight children together. The couple appears to have separated and possibly divorced. Moudy lived most of this life in Mississippi, but he moved to Los Angeles, California, before his death in 1946.
 
A divorce case this rich in detail provides layers of valuable lessons to genealogists. First, the case is not online; anyone seeking this family’s history will miss essential details by limiting research to what is digitized. Second, the Creels lived near a state line and moved back and forth across it. Any Creel researcher limiting the search to what they find in Mississippi sources will miss the case’s most critical elements. This case also demonstrates how much insight into private lives a divorce case can offer. With each witness, we meet a person in their circle, learn their relationship to the couple, and often get glimpses into personalities and events.
 
Further, while neither the case record nor supporting documentary evidence can tell us who spoke the truth here, this particular case might not be finished. We have what they did not: DNA tests. Descendants may yet shed new light on the paternity of the innocent infant in all this, Maude Creel Loper (1894–1980), who mothered nine children of her own. 

Author

Carlie Anne Burkett has been a reference archivist at the Alabama Department of Archives and History since 2017. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Alabama and a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. Working in the research room allows her to fulfill her dream of helping others research history every day. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Editor's Note

    “Adventures in Genealogy” is a regular department in Alabama Heritage magazine that spotlights the many ways people are uncovering their roots in Alabama. 

    More Genealogy Blogs

    Archives

    March 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    February 2020
    September 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015

Online Store
​Customer Service
Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
Corporate Sponsors
News
Join Our Email List

Employment
UA Disclaimer
UA Privacy Policy ​
​Website comments or questions?  

Email ah.online@ua.edu
Published by The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History
​Alabama Heritage
Box 870342
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Local: (205) 348-7467
Toll-Free: (877) 925-2323
Fax: (205) 348-7473

alabama.heritage@ua.edu