Inhabitants of Brookfield v. Inhabitants of Holden

The report in this case presents the question whether a married woman, who with her husband has been absent from the place of his settlement in this Commonwealth less than five consecutive years, after becoming a widow, loses her settlement derived from him at the expiration of the remainder of the five years, if she is still herself absent from the place of settlement. In the Superior Court it was held that she did not. The decision was right.

A married woman whose husband has no settlement in this Commonwealth can acquire a settlement of her own, G. L. c. 116, § 1, cl. 2, which she may,…