Download our Logo
Vol. 30:4 ISSN 0160-8460 December 2002
The Connecticut Court Records Project
by Debra Pond and Bruce P. Stark
By the standards of 18th-century Connecticut, Charles Hazelton of Killingworth in New London County enjoyed considerable success. An entrepreneur and land speculator, Hazelton made frequent appearances in the court records in the 1730s. Apparently prosperous, his situation gradually darkened. In June 1737, Hazelton sued for £100 damages, claiming that his good name was defamed by the accusation that he was a sheep stealer, but he failed to collect. The following year he unsuccessfully sued for trespass in a case involving the illegal cutting of timber. He lost several other cases to collect debts.
Catastrophe struck in 1741. Hazelton was sued for a debt of £204, could not pay, and was assigned to the service of plaintiff John Center, Jr., of Middletown for a term of 12 years. To add insult to injury, Hazelton attempted in June 1741 to collect a debt by bond for £200, but the lawyer for the defendant successfully argued in abatement that "ye Plaintiff himself is . . . a bound Servant for a term not Expir[e]d till more than seven years to come, neither hath he any Estate to make good ye Case."
Broadside, 1782 Census return. Photograph courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
Many stories can be told through use of county court records. Sometimes the story is primarily revealed through this source, as with Charles Hazelton. On other occasions, court papers flesh out and give depth to stories only partially revealed in other, more accessible sources. In addition, early court records often contain the only source of documentary evidence on the lives of ordinary women, children, minorities, and the poor who, despite their status in society, could sue and be sued, give testimony or depositions, and petition for redress of grievances.
Where else could we read the story of Mrs. Hannah Tyler of Goshen, who was charged with assault on Samuel Pettibone after she marched to his grist mill carrying a full chamber pot and emptied it over his head? Or the story of Selah Richmond, who was madly in love with Mehitabel Blakeslee? In order to ensure that she returned his love, he fed her a love charm- raisins laced with Spanish fly- that he purchased from Lewis McDonald. Mehitabel was poisoned, but a happy ending ensued, as the couple married and celebrated by claiming damages from McDonald.
Court records, however, present both challenges and opportunities to scholars, and have been underutilized. The primary goal of the Judicial Records Preservation and Access Project, supported in part by the NHPRC, is to reduce the former and increase the latter. Early Connecticut court records deposited in the State Archives are difficult to use because the indexing is rudimentary. Relevant materials on a single case are often found in several different locations. The papers are multifolded and enclosed in packets wrapped in string, and the materials are often in poor physical condition. For these reasons, court records, despite the vast array of valuable documentation they contain on a wide variety of subjects, are not often used by historians and genealogists.
Within the last 5 years, however, several scholars, undaunted by these difficulties, have used early Connecticut county court records to great advantage to tell their stories. Discussions with these historians on the documentation they found, its value to their search, and observation of the difficulties they encountered in using these records provided the inspiration for this project. The project's goal is to make early records of the New London County Court and Litchfield County Court more accessible to researchers by processing, arranging, preserving, and describing them.
Connecticut is a small state with just eight counties, six established in the colonial era and two after the American Revolution from existing counties. For this project, designed to be a model for processing court records, two counties with contrasting histories were chosen. New London County in southeastern Connecticut was one of the first four counties established in the colony, and a maritime and commercial center. It was a major center for religious dissent and the home to the largest African American and Native American populations in the colony.
Litchfield County, home of the Shaghticoke tribe of Native Americans, is located in the northwest corner of the state. It was the last county established prior to the Revolution, and the most rural and least economically developed area in Connecticut. During the Revolutionary and Early National periods, however, it became an important political and legal center and a Federalist political stronghold.
Oliver Wolcott (1726-97), signer of the Declaration of Indepdence and Governor of Connecticut, 1796-97. Portrait by Ralph Earle, ca. 1790. Photograph courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
The court documents are stored in packets bound with pink string and arranged in either alphabetical or numerical order. Each document is folded, and second and third documents from the same case are folded inside the first document, usually a summons, with docketing information on it. In order to examine materials on a single case, the researcher must open the packet, find the case being searched for, hope that the papers are filed in proper order, and then unfold all the documents. Once the researcher is finished, the entire process is reversed.
One of the project's goals is, therefore, is to unfold, sort, arrange, and place all the files in acid-free folders and acid-free boxes. This process in and of itself will greatly improve access to these documents, as scholars looking for materials on a particular case or cases will be able to go directly to the box and folder where the file papers are located. Eliminating the need to unfold and refold the documents each time they are consulted will play an important role in their preservation.
Finding aids to the records of these two courts from the time of their establishment to 1855 will provide an overview of the research value of the documents, an outline of major subjects included, and a detailed box and folder list. In addition, due to the intense interest in this state on materials concerning African Americans and Native Americans, the project archivists are identifying, photocopying, and creating databases for these records. Such cases represent only a tiny minority of those found in Litchfield and New London Counties, perhaps 0.2 percent, but their importance demands special treatment.
Often such individuals were neither plaintiffs nor defendants, as in the case of a 14-year-old slave named Violet. Her owners sued Stephen Welton of Litchfield, claiming that he and others took Violet from them in fall 1790 and passed her first to Canaan and finally to freedom in Cornwall, Vermont. Similarly, there was the case of "Indian squaw" Judith, who was raped by Litchfield County resident Jonathan Cook in 1794. Cook was found guilty, whipped 25 stripes, and ordered to pay £13 in court costs.
Often, too, race or identity is not apparent through surname. Only someone who has carefully examined the records of New London County, for example, would know that Robert Jacklin, John Jackson, and Hannah Wright were people of color. The November 1831 session of the New London County Court contains the case of State v. Peggy Sansom et al. The five defendants were all "persons of color" who were "rioters, routers, and disturbers of the peace." They broke into the house of Benjamin Beach, another person of color. This one case provides information on ten African Americans with six different surnames and forms a vital piece of evidence for those seeking to reconstruct the history of the African American community in New London during the first half of the 19th century.
The bulk of the cases involving Native Americans consist of suits for debt, but a variety of other subjects are included, from assault and theft to breach of covenant and fornication. One 1736 case, John Lay, Jr. v. John Sears, mariner, concerned Indian boy Tantipinat in service to the plaintiff for 6 years. Tantipinat joined Sears on a voyage to the West Indies and failed to return to his master when the journey was completed.
Connecticut county court records contain treasure troves of historical documentation for historians, genealogists, and legal scholars. Over 90 percent of all cases before the Litchfield and New London county courts were suits for debt- debt by note, debt by bond, and debt by book. Largely ignored by scholars, debt cases are important historical documents. Cases of debt by bond and note usually include the original bonds and notes. These documents provide information on whether the debtor and witnesses were literate or not, the nature of the relationship between creditor and debtor, who the witnesses were, together with information on the nature and use of credit in Connecticut. Debts by book sometimes contain lists of products purchased from merchants and storekeepers, providing important indications of economic or personal status.
The wide range of information that can be gleaned from debt cases is exemplified by two cases filed by Aaron Gregory against Jack Botsford, a free black from New Milford. The first case is a suit to collect a debt by book and includes Gregory's account of Botsford's purchases between September and November 1783. From this listing, we learn of Botsford's taste for store-bought clothing and, from the entry, "1/2 pint brandy by your wife," that he was married. In the second case, from the signature on the promissory note, we learn that Botsford was literate.
The records are also valuable for determining identity in an era when several people could share the same name, and for delineating trade or profession. New London court records contain several cases of Jonathan Rogers vs. Jonathan Rogers. In February 1730, for example, Jonathan Rogers, son of James Rogers deceased, and further identified by the word "shop" [blacksmith] sued Jonathan Rogers, son of Samuel Rogers deceased, "wood" [wooden leg]. We also learn that John Beckwith was a shipwright, Richard Brockway a mariner, Benjamin Gale a merchant, William Lamson a carpenter, Joseph Lothrop a glazier, and James Rogers a cooper.
Many cases that came before the county courts were withdrawn, or the plaintiff did not appear. The files alone give information on the substance of these non-adjudicated cases. Thomas Wait, for example, sued Nathaniel Beckwith in November 1741 for £23 for failure to deliver 10 ewes, 10 lambs, and 20 pounds of wool to the plaintiff by June 1, 1741. Titus Hurlbut sought damages from William Lamson in February 1742 for not framing the plaintiff's house as per contract.
The remaining cases cover a variety of subjects, including assault and battery, theft, trespass, land ownership and land inheritance, retailing strong drink without license, fornication, incontinence before marriage, lascivious carriage, defamation, profaning the Sabbath, breach of covenant, and damages. The latter charge covers a variety of cases from fraudulent contract, breach of contract, and failure to perform a promised service to abuse of cattle, nonpayment of child support, and nonpayment of promised salary.
The records contain information on a wide variety of additional subjects of interest to researchers. These include such topics as economic development and trade, the position of women in society, patterns of crime, the nature and function of the court system, literacy, personal relationships, and religious dissent.
Court records can be a gold mine for those interested in genealogy. To cite just one example, in February 1742, the New London County Court heard a partition of land case among the heirs of Joseph Rogers of New London, who had died in 1697. The plaintiffs were the children of John Rogers deceased, son of Joseph, and the defendants were the children of James Rogers deceased, brother of John. A detailed listing of family connections is included, enabling one to find information not to be found in any other published or unpublished source.
The lives of ordinary women are likewise documented in county court records. For example, the customs and costs of childbirth can be difficult to research, as few women left a written record of this time in their lives. In her 1764 lawsuit against Alexander Bryan, Ruth Ashman included in the account of her lying in her child's layette. This consisted of three blankets, four little shirts, five little caps, six bibs, two pairs of stockings, and a pair of little shoes, plus diapers or "clouts" and pins. Single mothers sued the fathers of their children under a 1702 law both to provide for the children and to prevent them from becoming chargeable expenses to the town in which they lived. In addition to lying in and costs of prosecution, these suits often contained depositions from midwives, doctors, and others involved in the couple's negotiations for child support.
Court records can provide new details on well-known figures. Oliver Wolcott (1725-1797), a Connecticut signer of the Declaration of Independence, is often described as a man of integrity and a scholar of dignified character who staunchly supported the American cause. His full life of public service included stints as Litchfield County sheriff and judge and service in the Continental Congress, Connecticut legislature, and as governor.
His neighbors and contemporaries, however, may have had a more jaundiced view of the man. Viewed through the lens of the county court, Wolcott was an incompetent sheriff who allowed the vagrant thief Joseph Negro to escape from jail in 1754. Neighbors sued Wolcott on behalf of his servant girl Lidia in 1757. The girl had run away and had sought protection from her master's cruel and abusive treatment, only to be dragged home again by an armed Wolcott.
In 1760, Wolcott's horse was beaten and its "handsome tail with the hair of a convenient length," cut off, a form of vandalism often directed at moneylenders and other unpopular persons of privilege and property. The man accused of the crime was found not guilty. And one wonders if Litchfield County resident Justus Miles had Wolcott in mind when he "defamed and vilified the Continental Congress and its members" in 1777.
County court records provide an unparalleled view of society at a given time, a place where the lives of ordinary people outweigh great events and celebrated heroes, as in the stories of such people as Ruth Ashman, Jack Botsford, Charles Hazelton, Tantipinat, and Hannah Tyler.
Debra Pond is the Connecticut County Judicial Records and Access Project archivist, and Bruce P. Stark is the assistant state archivist.
