She Divorced Her Husband, Married Him Again, and Had to Do It Twice
A Seattle judge grants Olive Blanche Rogerson her child, Kitsap land and a canceled mortgage after a remarriage that repeated the cruelty of an earlier Minnesota divorce.
Olive Blanche Rogerson was granted a divorce from Thomas A. Rogerson yesterday by Judge Humes, on the ground of cruel treatment. The custody of the minor child was given to Mrs. Rogerson, who was also awarded twenty-nine acres of land in Kitsap county. The court also ordered that a mortgage for $1,250 on the plaintiff's property, given by her to the defendant, be surrendered and canceled. The parties were married in the East ten years ago, and some years later were divorced in Minnesota because of cruel treatment on the part of Rogerson. Mrs. Rogerson came to Seattle, and shortly afterward her former husband followed. They were remarried in this city on August 17, 1890. Then Mr. Rogerson began to again treat his wife brutally, on one occasion knocking her down and beating her fearfully. The court gave the property to Mrs. Rogerson because she is a frail, delicate and sickly woman, while her husband is a heavy carpenter who is able to make a living for himself. Rogerson has been employed at the Port Orchard drydock, and pending the suit was obliged by the court to pay his wife temporary alimony. When cited to appear a few weeks ago he was handled very severely by the court, which commented forcibly on Rogerson's neglect of his family.
“They were remarried in this city on August 17, 1890. Then Mr. Rogerson began to again treat his wife brutally.”
The case shows a late-19th-century court willing to grant a wife custody, land and relief from a violent husband, but only after the same cycle of separation and reconciliation had played out twice. Modern domestic-violence advocates still describe that pattern of escalation and repeated legal intervention.
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