New York's First Divorcee, Eunice Hawley Chapman

New York State's first divorce occurred in 1818. It was awarded to a Sagittarius woman with a Gemini North Node, wouldn't you know? The woman's name was Eunice Hawley Chapman and her story is written about in a book called The Great Divorce by Ilyon Woo. Er, actually I think that link, if it works, goes to the NPR show about the book: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129162937.

Eunice Hawley Chapman
b. Nov. 22, 1778 (NS?) Bridgeport, NY

Sun 1 Sagittarius; Moon Sagittarius or Capricorn; NN 22 Gemini

Many markers for divorce in this chart. A Sagittarius Sun is freedom loving. Having the Nodes on the Gemini/Sagittarius pole will indicate a flexibility which will thrive on multiples of anything in the life.

Uranus, a major ruler of Divorce (rebellion, breaking status quo, equality), is prominently placed in Eunice's chart conjunct the Gemini North and also handle of a Sling Chart. Lilith, female agent of equality in relationships and bad marriages because of that need, is conjunct the South Node. And squaring these two is a wide square of Jupiter 23 Virgo to Neptune 2 Libra.

Libra and Venus's presence is always interesting to look at within divorce because they rule Marriage and the female side of relationships. With Mars (husband) conjunct Neptune in Libra it is interesting that Eunice divorced her husband because he drank too much and had withdrawn into the religious community of the Shakers which didn't believe in sexuality. This combination is more comfortable with the romantic notions of love and high idealism rather than the actual desire to make relationships work.

Venus in Eunice's chart is very strongly featured. It is placed at 15 Capricorn showing that this woman would not be bullied by Authority of any kind. She was a take charge type of lady. Venus is very prominent, both out of bounds (26 degrees, 04 minutes) and unaspected to other major planets, maybe conjunct the Moon in which both are unaspected. Can't comment on the Moon since I don't have a birth time. This could perhaps shows a very strong take charge type of woman, but perhaps a bit intimidating to be a relationship with.

Eunice's Progressed Venus had been Retrograding since around 1803-4. This could indicate the initiation of a long phase of low self esteem which could have led her into an abusive marriage. I can't find the year of her marriage.

The Placement of Saturn in Eunice's chart reiterates her very strong approach to her marriage, perhaps inherited from her Father. Saturn is placed at 20 Scorpio which shows strong leadership and executive skills. It is singleton in both Fixed Signs and Water Signs. Because of her strong Jupiter and Saturn influence she probably had more faith in going to the Legislature and Legal System for help in bringing about this huge change in the Law. More info here: http://ricefamilylaw.com/blog/2010/08/05/eunice-h-chapmans-legislative-divorce/

So,

divorce proceedings begun, 1815

Divorce Granted
May, 1818

First of its kind in New York State, Possessions and Children included

In the transits there are major outer planet configurations during this month. There was a conjunction of Uranus 20 Sagittarius to Neptune 26 Sagittarius. This explains the need for Freedom and Rights not to the Husband's withdrawal into weird religious beliefs and booze (two go together like bread and butter, heheh). Eunice was born 2 years into the American Revolution so the word was flinging all around her. Uranus-Neptune was squaring an end of sign conjunction of Saturn, Chiron and Pluto (17, 25, 27 degrees respectively)in Pisces. Wow, how close is that to the Pisces-Aries cusp, major angle of the horoscope? Talk about letting things fall apart in order to give birth to a new age... Either way, pretty powerful transit, a little like current times.

The actual divorce took 3 years. The date in May alludes to the event where the entire town accompanied Eunice out to the Shaker village where Eunice's husband was keeping their children. This led to some of the first womens' rights laws after marriage.