New Haven County Court Records: Blog

“Casuall Drowning” and Other Accidental, Unusual, or Suspicious Deaths in Connecticut

Given that October is the month where various cultures observe Halloween, we take a look at some of the more macabre cases in the New Haven County Superior Court records: judicial inquiries into those who died accidental, unusual, or suspicious deaths.

Please be advised that this post discusses sensitive topics that some might find upsetting, triggering, or offensive. These subjects include, but are not limited to, suicide, murder, death of children, and violence against members of marginalized groups. In addition, several of these cases contain detailed descriptions of the manner of death.

When quoting from documents, we will use the actual spelling, including transcriptions of individual words as necessary. (For more information about colonial spelling practices, see The Standardization of American English at teachinghistory.org.) In certain circumstances, we will add missing letters to abbreviated words or substitute modern spelling in brackets to enhance reader comprehension.

New Haven County Superior Court Papers by Subject

As happened with the County Court records, previous Librarian staff or Judicial clerks removed a portion of the Superior Court records from their original order and placed them into subject categories. For further discussion of the history and challenges of this arrangement, see our previous posts regarding the Confiscated Estates and Loyalists and Militia subject categories of the County Court records.

Here are the subject categories we have currently identified in the Superior Court records:

In this post, we will examine the subject category titled Inquests.

Puritan Attitudes and Beliefs Surrounding Death

Puritan death head in New England cemetery, courtesy of Ceoil, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Before we delve into Inquests, it would be instructive to discuss Puritan views of death. Their perspective on this matter contained contradictory elements of belief and was therefore fundamentally at odds with itself. Although “[m]uch of the average Puritan’s life was centered about and predicated on the vision of death, the afterlife, and the expected manner in which the passage from this world to the next should be made,” it was imperative that people never be certain of their own salvation, as such surety was seen as a sign of Satan’s deception: “Thus for as long as he lived even the most apparently obvious candidate for Sainthood did not dare take his election for granted; there was no way in this world of knowing with certainty whether one was saved or not. The best sign of assurance, in other words, was to be unsure.” (David E. Stannard, “Death and Dying in Puritan New England,” The American Historical Review 78, no. 5, December 1973, pp. 1306, 1311)

To compound this difficulty, Puritans taught even their youngest children to fear death through such brutal methods as graphic descriptions of Hell, displaying corpses of the dead, making executions a public spectacle, and telling them “at the Last Judgment their own parents would testify against them.” In an environment where death was viewed simultaneously as blessed release to everlasting joy and eternal punishment for sin, it is no wonder that many people experienced a great deal of fear on their deathbeds. And this stark view extended to burial: the dead were interred in plain shrouds and funerals were kept simple as possible. (Death in Early America, Digital History)

Eventually, this severe attitude collapsed under the weight of its own incongruity and barbarity. “A culture, no less than an individual, cannot long endure such pressure. One of the principal ways of reducing such tension... is ‘by changing one or more of the elements involved in dissonant relations,’ and this... is what happened in New England in the eighteenth century” (Stannard, “Death and Dying in Puritan New England, p. 1329). Over time, funerals and gravestones became more elaborate, children were told they would be reunited with their parents and other loved ones, and adults were assured that salvation awaited if they lived a sufficiently pious life. (Death in Early America, Digital History)

Inquests in the 1700s

Modern medical professionals classify death into five categories—accidental, natural, suicide, homicide, and unknown—and we have followed this model in our analysis of the deaths discovered in Inquests. However, we must keep in mind that in the absence of autopsies and other modern investigation techniques, the Court’s rulings may not always be accurate. In addition, these records only cover a selected portion of the overall deaths that occurred in New Haven County from 1700-1799.

As this chart demonstrates, by far the most common death in Inquests was accidental. Within this category, 58 deaths were drownings; 17 were from injuries caused by falling, being struck by an object, or other mishaps; 7 were intoxication-related; 3 were from exposure to inclement weather; and 3 were unknown types of accidents.

The second most common death was suicide. The most frequent method was hanging (14 deaths), followed by cutting of the throat (4 deaths). Other methods included two deliberate drownings, one laudanum overdose, one intentional exposure to inclement weather, and one shooting in the head. In the remaining three cases, the method was either not known or perhaps deliberately not included in the records for reasons we can only guess at—an increased sense of delicacy in the description of such harrowing subjects or wanting to protect the deceased and their families from public shame and disgrace.

The third most common death was natural causes. Sixteen deaths in this category were ruled to be apoplexy, which had a somewhat different meaning than it does today. “The term (apoplexia) (‘struck down with violence’, ‘to strike suddenly’) has been used since Antiquity, identifying, in the ancient and clinical sense of the term, a disorder in which ‘a person suddenly falls, without consciousness or motion, retaining pulse and respiration’” (Eliasz Engelhardt, “Apoplexy, Cerebrovascular Disease, and Stroke: Historical Evolution of Terms and Definitions,” Dementia & Neuropsychologia 11, no. 4, 2017, p. 450). In the absence of more sophisticated medical technology, apoplexy was applied to a broad range of fatal conditions, including strokes, heart attacks, seizures, and even aneurysms.

Only one natural death was ruled to be from disability or illness. In the remaining seven cases, the Court couldn’t determine the cause and simply stated that the person died due to “the Providence of God.”

There were surprisingly few deaths that were ruled homicide. These include the shooting of two Indigenous persons, one European-descended woman who was beaten to death, and one European-descended man who was hit in the head with a flat iron.

Finally, two deaths were ruled entirely unknown:

• Samuel Chittenden “was found Dead in his own house the Manner of whose Death is unknown.” (Guilford, April 1789)
• An infant was “found Dead in Mill River in New Haven... there appeared Marks upon the Body, but whether made before or after the Childs Death [the jury] cannot determine.” (New Haven, July 1794)

Deaths of Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC)

Inquest for Mary, an Indigenous woman residing in Durham as the servant of Hezekiah Tallcott, dated June 15, 1719. The Superior Court ruled that she was murdered by Coffe, an African-descended man who was also bound in servitude to Tallcott.

Of the 144 deaths investigated in Inquests, 17 were of African-descended or Indigenous persons. Accidental and natural causes were tied for the most common death, followed by suicide, then homicide. Unusually, there were no deaths ruled unknown, though there were a few that were simply ruled “natural” with no further description given.

Interestingly, only men in this group appear to have died accidental deaths:

• Cush, “an Indian,” was “found dead in Gershom Browns well,” died “by falling accidentally into said well.” (unknown location, September 1722)
• Quemany, “a young Negro Man,” was “accidentally Drowned.” (Milford, July 1748)
• Will, “a Negro man,” was found “at a place called Lt. Clarks orchard... death was occasioned by Excessive Cold.” (Milford, January 1741)
• Dick, “A Negrow man Servant to De[a]con Ithiel Russell of s[ai]d Branford,” died of “Cassual Death By Drownding In ye water.” (Branford, August 1760)
• Joseph Simon, “an Indian Man,” died by “Drinking of Strong Drink became Intoxicated thereby by means whereof he was Exposed to the Inclemency of the Weather on the Evening preceeding and in a Cold Storm of Rain on the Day Following by which Means he became Chill[e]d.” (Guilford, April 1771)
• “[A] Negro Man found dead in Milford at a Place called pond point (his Name unknown)... was Causually drowned.” (Milford, October 1771)

A mix of men, women, and children died of natural causes:

• Peter (also called Peter Negro) was “found in moses merriman land,” judged “a naturer deth.” (Wallingford, May 1718)
• Jupiter, “a Negro Man” and “Servant of Joel Canfield of Wallingford,” died “in a Sudden Fitt – and that his Death was Merely Casuall.” (Wallingford, February 1743)
• Dinah, “a negro Wench,” was found dead, judged “that her Death was not brot on by any Violence but by the Providence of God.” (New Haven, December 1768)
• Mary Will, “otherwise called Mary Cam an Indian Squaw,” died “a natirel Dea[th].” (Derby, February 1763)
• “[A] certain female child... belonging to Joshua Moss of said Waterbury,” died “of infirmity and weakness of body and No other cause.” (Waterbury, May 1767)
• Jack, “a Negro, & Servant to Mr. Philemon Johnson of Wallingford,” died “according to the usual Distributions of Divine Providence.” (Wallingford, February 1774)

Very sadly, two African-descended men and one African-descended boy died of suicide:

• London, “a Negrow man belonging to Mr. Lewis Liron," died by "Hanging himselfe with a chaine.” (Milford, September 1713)
• Jupiter, “a Negro Boy of Jacob Roses of s[ai]d Branford,” died “by Hanging himself with a Cartrope.” (Branford, April 1742)
• Hamed Quaste, “Late Servant of Mr. Timothy Thomson of New Haven,” died by “cutting his throat by a knife or Some Like Instrument.” (New Haven, July 1770)

Note that per the Court records, all of the individuals who died of suicide were enslaved—it is likely that even Quaste, the “Late Servant,” was actually in lifelong bondage, as the terms slave and servant were used interchangeably in the 1700s. (Allegra di Bonaventura, For Adam’s Sake: A Family Saga in Colonial New England, p. 62) Given the brutality of chattel slavery, it is also likely that this was a contributing factor to their deaths.

Only two cases were ruled homicide, and both victims were Indigenous persons:

• Mary, “an Indian Woman ye Servant of mr. Hez[ekiah] Tallcott,” was “shott of a Gun loaden with Lead” by “Coffe a negro man, the servant of mr. Hez. Tallcott.” Given that intermarriage among Indigenous woman and Black men was common in the 1700s (Daniel R. Mandell, Tribe, Race, History: Native Americans in Southern New England, 1780-1880, p. 43), one cannot help wondering if a relationship gone sour or rejection of advances was a factor in this crime. (Durham, June 1719)
• Peter Sunk, “alias Hoase an Indian fellow,” was “shot thro[ugh] ye Body by a larg[e] bullet” by Noah Durand of Derby who claimed he mistook Peter as “the white of a dears tail” but the Court judged he “did willfully wickedly cruely malisiously & feloniously murder the s[ai]d Peter.” (Derby, May 1735)

Deaths of Men

Inquest for John Payne Jr. of New Haven, dated July 22, 1762. The Superior Court ruled that he accidentally drowned, noting that “he never Larnt the art to Swim.”

It is perhaps unsurprising that the most deaths in Inquests were of men, and that the most common death in this demographic was accidental. Within this category, drowning was the most frequent demise. Many of these drownings were described in the court records as “casuall,” which refers to casualty rather than the more modern connotation of informal or nonchalant.

Unfortunately, the frequency of drowning reflects the fact that many colonists did not know how to swim. Europeans stopped learning this crucial skill during the Middle Ages, perhaps due to fear of infection being spread through water. Africans and Indigenous persons were more likely to know how to swim, and the settlers often made them complete tasks that required this skill. It wasn’t until the 1800s that Europeans and Americans once again embraced “the art to Swim”—which sadly corresponded with a decrease in the number of people of color being taught this skill. (Karen Carr, History of swimming in the Americas)

Deaths of Women

Inquest for Sarah Doolittle of Wallingford, dated November 13, 1719. The Superior Court ruled that she hanged herself with her apron strings.

Among women in Inquests, suicide was the most common cause of death. This was perhaps a grim consequence of the constricted life of subordinate dependency that women were forced to endure by both law and custom.

In the early-mid 1700s, suicides were described with brutal candor in the court records, which no doubt reflected the Puritans’ harsh view of them: “In the absence of theories of the unconscious mind and of group behavior, suicide was regarded less as a psychological and social problem than as the subject of a religious and moral debate in which sound opinions made up a sound state of mind” (S. E. Sprott, “The Puritan Problem of Suicide,” Dalhousie Review 37, no. 2, p. 226).

However, as Puritanism waned over the course of the eighteenth century, suicide deaths were described with more sensitivity, and in a few cases the method was not even mentioned. In addition, from 1742 onward, at least 12 suicides (of both men and women) were attributed to insanity or delirium, rather than moral failure or temptation from Satan.

Deaths of Children

Inquest for Katherine Bates, seven months of age, dated April 8, 1761. The Superior Court ruled that she was accidentally “overlaid” by her mother Hannah while sharing a bed.

As with men, the most common cause of death in children was accidental. The smothering deaths listed in this chart occurred in toddlers and infants, as communal sleeping was common custom in households until the Victorian era.

The natural death and suicide were discussed in BIPOC deaths, and the unknown death was mentioned in the “Inquests in the 1700s” section.

Deaths by Decade

Through several decades of the 1700s, accidental deaths remained somewhat evenly distributed, although they peaked in the 1750s. Natural deaths also remained fairly steady, though they increased during the 1760s-1780s before dropping to their previously low rates. Suicides appear to have waxed and waned—they were the leading cause of death in the first twenty years of the eighteenth century, and while they were soon outpaced by accidents, they surged in the final decade of the 1700s. Homicides and unknown deaths were surprisingly infrequent.

Deaths by Town

Predictably, the highest number of deaths was in New Haven, though Guilford had a not-insignificant amount, as well. This most likely reflects the increased population of these towns/cities (New Haven had approximately 3,500 people by the American Revolution, while Guilford and its outlying areas contained more than 2,300 people by 1756).

In addition, New Haven and Guilford’s proximity to water likely played a role in the number of accidental deaths, most of which were drowning. Although Milford, East Haven, and Branford also border Long Island Sound, the most frequent drownings occurred in New Haven (15 deaths), followed closely by Guilford (11 deaths), and then a not-too-distant third by Branford (7 deaths). Milford only had five drownings, and East Haven had two. While Madison also borders the Sound, it is not present in Inquests from 1700-1799 because it was part of Guilford until 1826. West Haven is likewise absent because it was not incorporated as its own town until 1961.

Inquests in the 1800s

Inquest for Mary E. Augur of Meriden, dated October 12, 1875. Suspected cause of death was poison.

The Superior Court Inquests of the 1800s greatly differ in format, tone, and information provided about demographics and manner of death. Rather than being full accounts of accidental, unusual, or suspicious deaths, these records are mainly post-mortem examination bills requesting reimbursement of costs.

They also reflect various changes in American culture since the Puritan era. In the nineteenth century, exhumations and autopsies had become routine aspects of these investigations. In addition, there were more diverse surnames among the deceased, reflecting the increased immigration of non-English groups to Connecticut. (Richard DeLuca, Post Roads & Iron Horses: Transportation in Connecticut from Colonial Times to the Age of Steam, p. 154).

Only five out of these 51 inquests list any details that suggest or hint at a probable cause of death:

• District Attorney E. K. Foster requested “the chemical examination of the stomach and the contents of the stomach of an unknown person.” (New Haven, May 1860)
• Mary Anderson “might have died from violence.” (December 1860)
• John C. Hollister Esq. requested a "Post mortem Examination on the body of an Infant found in a backhouse vault" in New Haven. (Meriden, May 1866)
• Nathan Fenn died “from violence.” (Milford, October 1870)
• Mary E. Augur “might have died from poison... was exhumed... and a post mortem examination of the body, and chemical analysis of the stomach of the deceased was made.” (Meriden, October 1875)

Update November 2023

After completing additional research into the 1800s Inquests for an index that we plan to make public once the Uncovering New Haven project is concluded, we also plan to scan these three cases:

• State Attorney Foster requested a post-mortem examination of a deceased man named Mercer and an examination of a man named Donovan “as to insanity,” indicating that this may be in relation to a murder case. Although first names were not given, we presume these were men because deceased women were usually identified as “Mrs. [Surname]” or “Miss [Surname]” in inquest records. (unknown location, December 1858)
• A bill of cost for Dr. T. B. Townsend of New Haven stated that he provided “Examination of Catherine Thompson before trial on Watkins Rogers (Throat Cut),” indicating that Rogers was potentially murdered and that Thompson may have been the accused who was being assessed for mental and/or physical competency to stand trial. (New Haven, March 1864)
• A bill of costs for Dr. Ira S. Smith lists a “Post mortem on child found in out house Wooster St.” (New Haven, January 1873)

We also identified an additional person of color, which can be challenging given that African and Indigenous ancestry was not always listed in the court records after 1800. In March 1864, Dr. T. B. Townsend performed a “Post Mortem Examination of body of Sybil Jackson” of New Haven. In the court record, no cause or date of death is given. However, two articles from the New Haven Palladium shed additional light on this case:

CITY NEWS... Sybil Jackson, the colored woman of Steven’s Alley who was so cruelly beaten by her husband, Morris Jackson, on Thanksgiving night, died Saturday night. A jury of inquest was impaneled, consisting of C. F. Lockwood, A. W. Morse, Almon Rockwell, Joel B. Foote, J. W. Bradley, I. H. Ross. The inquest was held yesterday before Justice Hollister, and was adjourned to 10 o’clock to-day. The corpse was buried yesterday, in the Alms House grounds. (December 7, 1863, p. 1)

The Verdict. The verdict of the jury summoned before Justice Hollister was rendered at about eleven o’clock Monday morning, and was as follows: “That Sybil Jackson came to her death by apoplexy, but whether this was the result of injuries received from her husband, Morris Jackson, or from some other cause, is to the jury unknown.” The post mortem examination was made by Dr. Townsend. (December 8, 1863, p. 1)

We thank Christine Pittsley for her generous assistance in helping us identify Sybil Jackson.

Closing Thoughts

Inquests in the New Haven County Superior Court records are an interesting and disconcerting blend of instructive, poignant, and enigmatic.

Although colonial and early American Connecticut did not have access to modern medicine and investigative technology, the Court was amazingly confident in its proclamations of accidental and natural deaths—even when the jury couldn’t determine exactly what kind of accident or natural cause was responsible for a person’s demise. One also finds disturbing patterns in the data, such as the frequency of suicide among women and the sheer number of drowning deaths that perhaps could have been avoided if European culture hadn’t repudiated swimming. Despite their often excruciating detail, sometimes the records merely raise further questions—why did the beaches of Guilford seem slightly more prone to discovery of deceased “strangers” on their shores than any other town along the Sound, and did those people truly die of “casuall” drowning?

Finally, the perennial question remains: what accidental, unusual, or suspicious deaths have we lost the records for—or were not investigated by the Superior Court? It is striking that there are no recorded suicides of Indigenous persons, homicides of African-descended persons, or deaths of Indigenous children in Inquests from 1700-1799.

As with any other post in this blog, the information, observations, and speculations discussed in this entry are not meant to serve as a definitive conclusion on the nature of accidental, unusual, and suspicious deaths in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Connecticut, but to provide an invitation for interested researchers and investigators who wish to delve further into this topic.

As noted in a previous post, the records for these cases, as well as several of the cases previously profiled in this blog, are currently in the process of being digitized. They will eventually be available for public viewing at the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).

This project is made possible through funding from the Historic Documents Preservation fund of the Office of the Public Records Administrator. We also recognize the past support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).