In honor of Thanksgiving month, we are pleased to express our gratitude by profiling the work of two of our newest student interns and volunteers for the Uncovering New Haven project.
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, murder, capital punishment, death of children, bestiality, and violence against members of marginalized groups. In addition, these cases may contain detailed descriptions of crimes committed.
See our previous profiles here:
Educational background:
What drew you to volunteer/seek an internship with the Uncovering New Haven project and/or the Connecticut State Archives?
As soon as I found out that the State Archives were an option for an internship through SCSU, I immediately knew I wanted to intern there! I took a fabulous introduction to archives class during undergrad, and had the pleasure of also getting to also take an outstanding archives course during my summer semester. I absolutely loved each course—particularly learning more about modern preservation techniques and recovery efforts in handling documents. I knew this would be a valuable opportunity to experience this type of environment, and getting to work on the Uncovering New Haven project was not only eye-opening, but really fun to explore!
Describe a normal day in the archives for you:
A typical day in the archives consists mainly of processing court records from New Haven County from years past. I began with Criminal Files from New Haven Superior Court from 1831-1835, then 1836-1840, 1847-1850 next, and wrapped up with Civil Case Files from 1798-1819. The case files were previously stored folded up in metal boxes in what look like little pamphlets. Each “pamphlet” needs to be unfolded and to have the creases taken out. This is done using a bone folder and flattening the documents under heavy weights or books for several days. I also read through every case to see if they were unusual or remarkable in any way. There is also special care given to any case involving individuals who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. These cases are set aside for digitization so they can be more accessible for all.
What is the most interesting, memorable, surprising, and/or bizarre thing(s) you’ve found while processing the court records?
Where do I begin…? I must say I lucked out with the many interesting cases I got to process in my time at the archives! Whether it was someone selling 10 pounds of “diseased, tainted, corrupted, spoiled and unwholesome beef,” riots, bigamy, jewel theft, or a man poisoning his neighbor with arsenic on Christmas Eve, I had more than my fair share of exciting cases to read through.
One of the most interesting stories I got to survey was the saga of Charlotte and John: a married woman committed adultery with a transient man and two days later the woman’s husband killed him. The husband was convicted of manslaughter, then weeks later broke out of jail with some of his friends.
Another very intriguing case was the “Mad Dog Case” where a man pretended to have knowledge of “a certain occult art” that cured rabies, but obviously had no such remedy. The “pretended recipe was a cure for malady—[he] was then an ignorant young man wholly unskilled and unacquainted with physic or with the application or effect of a single medicine or with the anatomy of the human or animal frame.”
I have been truly blessed with some extraordinary cases, but I would like to highlight one in particular as my favorite: the fugitive case. Deputy sheriff David H. Carr traveled to Canada to extradite fugitive James McCaffery, who had fled New Haven when he was issued a death warrant for multiple murders.
Death warrant: “Between the hours of 10 o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the afternoon of that day you will be hung by the neck until you are dead. And may God have mercy on your soul.”
After a grueling 40 days of scouring up and down the Ottawa river with the help of a hired companion who had actually seen and could identify McCaffery (Carr had no idea what he looked like), and being detained for 16 days himself, Carr finally found and arrested the man. Due to his lengthy stay in Canada and his many accrued expenses, Carr sent a huge bill to the court—$504 in expenses (about $20,000 today).
Some pushback came from the court about this bill, so Carr sent a follow-up letter pleading and assuring the state that the expenses were legitimate and he had vouchers for everything. Finally, the governor (Joseph Trumbull) approved the expenses in a signed document.
What aspects of working on this project did you enjoy the most, and why? What aspects did you enjoy the least, and why?
I absolutely loved getting to decipher the contents of each file, putting together the glimpses we are given through little scraps of paper and reconstructing the shape of a story. It’s completely fascinating and surreal. At times it feels almost intrusive to read through the tawdry details of people’s lives, but it is enjoyable and engrossing all the same!
For me, the experience was especially exciting considering how long it had been since a person had handled or read any of the cases. I felt so privileged to be the first to examine these interesting documents in around 100 years. I also felt grateful to see the tangible impact of my work through little things like papers flattening out over time, and cases I organized going into Hollinger boxes for future researchers.
Though I didn’t necessarily dislike it, I found the task of reading and comprehending the handwriting in the documents to be the most challenging aspect of my role. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long to adapt to the archaic language or unclear penmanship. After getting more and more used to things like the “long S,” combing through the cases quickly became more satisfying and engaging to me.
What have you learned about court records, history, or in general over the course of working on the Uncovering New Haven project?
Through exploring the cases, I became familiar with so many sayings, legal terms, and turns of phrase. Examples of legal phrases in the documents:
Words:
Aside from what I learned from looking through the cases, I also learned so much about Connecticut that I had never known despite being born and raised here! For example, I had never heard about the controversy of Governor John Rowland, that P. T. Barnum has his own festival in Bridgeport, or that John Winthrop, Jr.’s visit to England left Hartford vulnerable to the Witch Panic. This experience has also renewed my interest in researching my family's genealogy!
Is there anything else that you would like to share about your volunteer/internship experience?
My favorite handwriting:
Educational background:
What drew you to volunteer/seek an internship with the Uncovering New Haven project and/or the Connecticut State Archives?
After receiving my undergraduate degree in history, in which I specialized in archaeology, I was looking to transition to the field of library science. I had already decided to take a year before beginning my master’s education and, having done some archival work previously for a historical society, reached out to the Connecticut State Archives for an internship opportunity. After talking with Allen Ramsey (Assistant State Archivist) and Damon Munz (Government Records Archivist) and touring the facility, I was very excited to be able to join the Uncovering New Haven project.
Describe a normal day in the archives for you:
I have worked with a few sections of the Superior Court, criminal and civil files. I make a label with the type of case and year span for the box of files I am working on (mainly the late 18th and early 19th centuries), the names of the parties involved, and the date of the case. A considerable amount of my time is spent deciphering the colonial cursive, looking especially for anything regarding Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (denoted as BIPOC). While those cases are the priority, I am also looking for other unusual or notable cases, either involving a prominent figure or an uncommon circumstance. If the case falls under one of these categories, I mark it with a short description on a Post-it note. All cases are then pressed under a weight for several days to remain flat.
What aspects of working on this project did you enjoy the most, and why? What aspects did you enjoy the least, and why?
There has not been a single day that I haven’t found something interesting or entertaining. When I was working with criminal case files almost every other case had something serious or bizarre, ranging from infanticide and murder to “carnal knowledge” of farm animals. Most of the civil cases are debt related, many of which are straightforward and much less entertaining than criminal cases. There are still interesting and bizarre cases in the civil court—and their comparative rarity makes them even more exciting to find. Merchants show up much more frequently in the civil cases, for example, which results in stories of voyages to the West Indies, where they talk of their ships being wrecked in storms or captured by French privateers.
What have you learned about court records, history, or in general over the course of working on the Uncovering New Haven project?
I have become more familiar with court proceedings and records than I would have expected. I now know what to look for when I open a case and can follow it more chronologically to piece together the story. Aside from the structure of the cases, I am always learning new things from small points in the proceedings—for instance, I recently had a case from 1803 in which the defendant was residing in Paris, which the court document said was in “the Terrible Republic of France.” This was a phrase I had never seen in my studies of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France and has since sparked more research. There is always something new to learn!
Is there anything else that you would like to share about your volunteer/internship experience?
It has been an incredible experience and a wonderful opportunity to get hands-on experience with such a great group of people!
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).
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