New Haven County Court Records

“We Believe He Has Ever Sustained the Character of a Civil Honest Man”: A Debt Lawsuit Between Two Freemen

In honor of Black and African American History month, we examine the first case discovered in the New Haven County Court records involving an African-descended plaintiff and defendant.

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.

Comme Simons vs. James Shop

Writ for Comme Simons vs. James Shop

In December 1784, Comme Simons (also spelled Cummy and Comma in the court records) recovered judgement from James Shop regarding various debts that Shop owed to him. Simons was a Black freeman of Woodbury, and Shop was a Black freeman of New Haven. This appears to be a run-of-the-mill debt case, until one examines the verdict.

Entry for Comme Simons vs. James Shop in the County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 9, 1783-1788, p. 179

What is particularly notable about this case is that in January 1785, the Court sentenced Shop to be bound in servitude to Simons for a period of four-and-a-half months, in order to work off his debt. The ruling pictured above reads:

On the Motion of Comma Simons a Free Negroe, that James Shop also Free might be Assigned in Service to the s[aid] Comma for a Sum Sufficient to satisfy the sums of an Ex[ecutio]n in Fav[o]r of s[ai]d Comma & against s[ai]d James being [4 pounds, 5 shillings, 8 pence, etc. etc.] – This Court do Thereupon assign the said Shop in Service to the s[ai]d Comma for & during the Term of 4 & 1/2 Months Viz until the First Day of June 1785 ~ in Full Satisfaction of said Ex[ecutio]n and the Fees of This Court~

Assignment for Captain James Miles vs. Jonathan Crossman

While it was not uncommon for debtors to be sentenced to a term of indenture to fulfill their debts, a more common scenario in colonial New England was an Indigenous debtor bound to a white creditor (Kathleen J. Bragdon, Native People of Southern New England, 1650-1775, pp. 213, 219; Lucianne Lavin, Connecticut’s Indigenous Peoples, pp. 336, 337; Daniel R. Mandell, Tribe, Race, History: Native Americans in Southern New England, pp. 2, 27). We also have cases in the New Haven County Court records where white debtors were bound to white creditors. As the court document pictured above demonstrates, Jonathan Crossman of Middletown was bound for “a reasonable Time in Service to Capt[ain] James Miles” in November 1750 to satisfy “Several Executions” for debts owed.

The case of Simons vs. Shop is the only instance we have discovered in the court records to date of a Black freeman being bound to another Black freeman.

Character witness statement for Comme Simons vs. James Shop

Interestingly, three (presumably English-descended) men acted as character witnesses for Simons in this case. Their statement pictured above reads:

These Certify that we the Subscribers have been Acquainted with Cummy Simons a Negro man belonging to Woodbury from his youth, & we believe he has ever Sustained the Character of a Civil Honest Man. Woodbury Sept[embe]r 15th 1784. To whom it may Concern. Increase Moseley / Edw[ar]d Kinman / Amos Hicock

Other Cases

For those who would like to read more about Black, African American, and African-descended persons in the New Haven County Court records, here are several cases that we previously chronicled:

• Phillis: a freewoman who sued her attempted captor for wrongful assault and imprisonment. Hers was the first case we discovered in our records involving an African-descended plaintiff.
• Aaron Moree, Philip, Dick (of Wallingford), Dinah, Betty, Dick (of Middletown), Sharp, Amy, Cato, and Caroline Saunderson: freepersons who faced threats to their liberty and livelihoods due to attempted enslavement and forced servitude.
• Harry, Dick, Fortune, Hanah, Ishmael, and Prince: enslaved men, women, and children with illnesses and chronic conditions who were at the center of legal disputes between enslavers.
• Sim: an enslaved woman who died of smallpox after Wallingford town selectmen pressed her into service at a house where the disease was present.
• Nelle: an enslaved girl of African and Indigenous descent whose enslavers argued over whether she was eligible to be freed once she reached the age of majority.
• Devenshare Nero: an enslaved man caught in a protracted court battle between two enslavers who claimed ownership over him.
• Margaret, Caesar, and Tim: formerly enslaved persons who fell into poverty due to illness or advanced age.
• York and Gad: two freemen sued for debts owed.
• Robin: an enslaved man who fell ill while away from his captor’s household.
• Boston: a servant involved in a group assault on a constable.
• Connecticut settlers’ involvement in the slave trade.
• An overview of cases involving African American, Black, and Indigenous peoples from 1790-1799.

As noted in a previous post, the records for this case, 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).

The Connecticut State Library would like to thank the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for their generous support of this project.