Noun
A state of separation from the rest, or from all others; a holding by individual right.
Source: Webster's dictionaryHistory of IRA Background At the time the Act passed, it was United States policy to eliminate Indian reservations, dividing the communal territory and allotting 160-acre plots to individual heads of households, to be owned in severalty. Source: Internet
In referring to "men in severalty", Bell is referring to corporate kin groups such as lineages which, in having paid brideprice, retain a right in a woman's offspring even if her husband (a lineage member) deceases ( Levirate marriage ). Source: Internet