New Haven County Court Records

New Haven County Court Records: Year in Review

Stock images, Microsoft Word.

The end of the calendar year is a fitting time to review our progress on the Uncovering New Haven project.

Processing Progress

The New Haven County and Superior Court records are divided into the following series:

• County Court Files, 1670-1855
• County Court Papers by Subject
  • Admission to the Bar
  • Appointment of Officers
  • Confiscated Estates and Loyalists
  • Conservators and Guardians
  • Costs
  • Court Expenses
  • Equity Bills
  • Executions [meaning the record of when and how a writ was completed, not to be confused with capital punishment]
  • Insolvents
  • Jurors
  • Justices of the Peace
  • Licenses
  • Meeting House
  • Militia
  • Miscellaneous
  • Partition Land
  • Revolutionary Pensions
  • Travel
• Superior Court Files, 1711-1798
• Superior Court Judgments (Civil Case Files), 1798-1855
• Superior Court Criminal Files, 1797-1855
• Superior Court No Appearance Files, 1808-1855
• Superior Court Papers by Subject
  • Admission to the Bar
  • Appeals from County Court
  • Appointment of Officers
  • Assignments
  • Conservators and Guardians
  • Costs
  • Court Expenses
  • Divorce
  • Executions [also not capital punishment]
  • Indians
  • Inquests
  • Insolvents
  • Jurors
  • Loyalists
  • Maritime (Revolutionary War)
  • Meeting House
  • Militia
  • Miscellaneous
  • Partition Land
  • Revolutionary Pensions
  • Travel

For a more in-depth discussion of the arrangement of these records, see Loyalists in Connecticut?.

In 2024, we completed the County Court Papers by Subject, Superior Court Files, and Superior Court Criminal Files. We also finished up to 1820 in County Court Files and all but one subject category—Executions—of Superior Court Papers by Subject. Heading into 2025, we are processing the remainder of Executions, as well as Superior Court Judgments (Civil Case Files) and Superior Court No Appearance Files.

In their unprocessed state, the size of these records was 407 cubic feet (203 boxes). After the court cases are unfolded, flattened, and rehoused in order to better preserve them, they will take up more space. To date, we have processed an estimated two-thirds of these records, and their size has already increased to 469.5 cubic feet (234.75 boxes).

The New Haven County and Superior Court records are currently housed at the Van Block State Library Storage Facility while we process them. They will be returned to the State Library main building on Capitol Avenue once the project is complete.

BIPOC Discoveries

A major goal of the Uncovering New Haven project is to identify cases involving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) persons and groups. To date, we have discovered approximately 449 such cases. Of these, 357 involved African-descended, African American, and Black persons; 70 involved Indigenous persons, groups, or lands (including Hammonasset, Mattabesset, Mohawk, Paugussett—Turkey Hill, Wawyachtonoc, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee nations); and 22 involved multiracial persons (African/European, African/Indigenous, and cases including African and Indigenous persons).

Here is a selection of the cases involving BIPOC persons, groups, and lands that we discovered in 2024, which we discussed on this blog and the State Library’s Instagram:

• “Many Years ago we well knew”: The Family History of Rhoda, a Freeborn but Enslaved Woman of African and European Descent—this find was tremendously exciting, as it provided a matrilineal lineage!
• Black Governors and Kings of Connecticut—an important role and tradition in the Black communities of New England.
• Superior Court Finds, Part II: Cases Involving Black, African American, and Indigenous Persons and Groups—an analysis of our discoveries to date.
• Sophy Saunderson’s petition for divorce on the grounds of bigamy.
• Sheriff’s bill from the execution of Joseph Mountain.
• A Connecticut family who lost money in the Yazoo Land scandal of Georgia.

Testimony of John and Mabel Smith describing the matrilineal ancestry of Rhoda. From Lucas Wingaard vs. James Reynolds and Allen Sage, 1769.

Other Interesting Finds

In other cases, one of our most eagerly anticipated discoveries was the final verdict of Elizabeth Gould’s appeal to the Superior Court. In 1742, she filed a lawsuit in the County Court against Benjamin Chittenden for slandering her as a witch, but the Court found her plea insufficient. We also analyzed divorce cases in the Superior Court during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (the latter of which was completed by our student volunteer Abby Davidson) and profiled the petition of a man seeking divorce from “the Infamous Rachel Page of Branford.” We also delved into Superior Court criminal and civil cases during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Interesting criminal case finds:

• Four women in Hamden were indicted for conspiracy in August 1873, but the court documents did not mention why. It took some sleuthing in various newspaper databases to solve this intriguing mystery.
• The legal punishments for counterfeiting in colonial Connecticut were exceedingly brutal.
• Physical punishment and hard labor were also common sentences for crimes of theft and burglary—which could also merit a death sentence for three convictions!
• A Yale medical student was prosecuted for grave robbery in January 1824.

Interesting civil case finds:

• The partnership of two men running a traveling exhibition of wax figures and other curiosities went awry when one of them sued the other in December 1818 for failing to meet the terms of their agreement.
• The families of Revolutionary War soldiers continued to petition for pensions well into the nineteenth century.
• John Rogers petitioned for release from gaol, after being imprisoned for attending the “wrong” prayer meeting.

We also highlighted the wonderful work of our student interns and volunteers:

• Maggie Sanderson and Max Spicer
• Lauren Todd
• Madelyn

Excerpt from County Court case of Elizabeth Gould vs. Benjamin Chittenden, 1742. The text “was a Witch” is exceedingly eye-catching!

Superior Court verdict for Elizabeth Gould vs. Benjamin Chittenden, 1743.

A Final Postscript

Stock images, Microsoft Word.

The end of the calendar year is a fitting time to review our progress on the Uncovering New Haven project.

As we move into 2025—our final year of processing the New Haven County and Superior Court records—we thank you for your interest, enthusiasm, and support of this project.

You can read other project reflections here:

• New Haven County Court Record Superlatives 2022
• 100 Years of Court Records: A Retrospective
• State of the Uncovering New Haven Project

As noted in a previous post, the records for several of the cases 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).