About 1884, William J. Courtney petitioned Westmoreland County Court. Orator William J. Courtney…of an exceedingly timid disposition was forced into a marriage with one Ella V. Sanfor, [sic] an unchaste woman of disreputable character under the following circumstances—
On Thursday night the 19th of October 1881 one Grayson Davis came to the place where your orator lives alone with his widowed mother in law and told your orator, That some one had gotten his wife’s sister, one Ella V. Sandford with child, that she charged your orator with having done it, and that your orator "had to marry her". After Davis had been talking sometime he was joined by John Sandford, the brother of the girl, who until then had been concealed, and who united with Davis in declaring that your orator should marry the girl. This your orator positively refused to do…On the following Monday he was visited by one John S. Butler, the husband of Ella V. Sandford’s aunt… Goes on at length. [Westmoreland County, Virginia, Loose Papers, 1884-06 73.]