Library Collections: Document: Full Text

Thus I felt that the good seed so prayerfully sown in tears was at length quickened into life, and had arisen to be a power and a blessing to the mothers of all future time in Illinois.

And here a mother's pride prompts me to pay a passing tribute to my son, Samuel, now a lawyer of good standing in Chicago, for to this, now filial son, am I indebted more than to my other one person for the assistance I received in the drafting of this Bill.

This dear child worked with a hearty good will in this noble cause, since his developed manhood has led him to see and feel; the need of legal protection to his oppressed mother, in suffering the highest love in her nature -- the maternal -- to be thus ruthlessly strangled and crucified, not only to her anguish, but also the detriment of the children. This son, in common with almost every other member of the bar with whom I have conversed upon this subject, has often expressed his surprise at finding the statutes so defective on this subject. He once said:

"Mother, I do not think there is one lawyer in ten who knows how absolutely helpless married woman is under the common law, nor how defective our statutes have been in regard to the legal protection of married women. I never fully realized it until my attention was called to it by your experiences. I will gladly do anything in my power to aid you in bringing about this most needed change. If you wish I will go to Springfield myself to help you in this matter, if necessary, to get this important bill through."

Thus I found that this dear son, who once in his childish ignorance sustained his father in his wicked course, had now become his mother's real and efficient defender and protector, and no restitution he can now make is regarded by him as too great, such as his more developed and now enlightened manhood prompts him to make, as a free-will offering upon the altar of filial love for his esteemed and honored mother.

My next step was to get possession of my children, then in Massachusetts. But as the laws were, when Mr. Packard fled with them to that State, he was solely entitled to the custody, control and earnings of the children, while the mother had no rights at all.

But in the meantime I had sent a bill to Hon. S. E. Sewall, of Boston, requesting him to present it to the Massachusetts Legislature and defend it before the Committee, if necessary, in order to secure its passage.

In response to this came the most welcome intelligence, in the Spring of 1869, that the laws of Massachusetts had been so changed that a mother had now an equal right before the law to the custody and control of the children, with that of the father, and that in case of separation, the Court must determine, by the merits of each individual case, with which of the parents the children should remain.

I therefore decided to go directly to Boston to petition the Court for the custody of my children.

To prepare myself for this campaign I obtained some certificates from my friends in Chicago relative to my capacities to assume the responsibilities of the training and support of my children. And also certificates from real estate agents in relation to the value and amount of the property which I held in my own right. And in addition to these I took the voluntary certificates of my two oldest sons, then doing business in Chicago, with me to Boston to use, if necessary, instead of their going themselves with me to the Court, as witnesses, which, however, they both volunteered to do if I needed them to help me in any manner, to secure the custody of their sister and two younger brothers.

Some of these certificates I will here give to my readers for two reasons -- one of which is, that they may see in what estimation I was held in the community where I had made my home since my sanity has been vindicated by the court at Kankakee.

And the other is to show the evidence that these dear sons ever stood the noble defenders of their mother's sanity and her rights; for among other false charges brought against me, by this Conspiracy, is, that most cruel charge, that these dear sons have been disloyal to their mother!

Therefore it is a plain duty I owe these devoted sons, as their mother, to defend their characters against this most unjust charge, by allowing them to speak for themselves, in their own words as found in their own certificates, viz.:

CHICAGO, ILL., April 20, 1869.
To Whom it may Concern:

This is to certify, that I, Theophilus Packard, am the oldest son of Theophilus and Elizabeth P. W. Packard; that I am twenty-seven years of age; that the first sixteen years of my life I spent under my mother's care and supervision, and nearly fitted for college under her teachings.

That: from my own judgment and knowledge, without extraneous influence, I solemnly believe that my mother is the only proper person who has both the will and ability to take charge of and maintain her infant children.

That she is my mother in every sense of the term, and her councils I may rely upon; that her loving care and disregard of self to minister to our best interests, merits our most filial regard.