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Many people, when beginning the pursuit of
family history, do not realize the types of useful and valuable information
that can be found in court records. Over the years, such novices have often
told us that their ancestors were not the sort of people who would have had
“criminal records”, indicating that they think only criminals would find
themselves in court! As they follow the path of genealogical inquiry,
especially with a more illusive ancestor, they receive quite an education as
to the variety of records filed in courthouses at various times in history
and in diverse areas of the country. Probate, divorce, naturalizations, land
court and court of common pleas are the most common types of records
available in Massachusetts courts, but the researcher might also find other
records such as warnings out, name changes, marriage and other vital
statistics, cemetery records or soldier’s pension records. Here we will
limit our discussion to the types of material available at the Berkshire
Athenaeum.
General information involving court records and their
use
Most “how to” books on genealogy include a
general discussion of court records. Books specific to particular foreign
countries will help the researcher identify court records abroad. Many of
these books are available at the library. Using the Internet, a description
of the modern records of almost any U.S. state can be easily found.
A book such as the
County Courthouse Book by Elizabeth
P. Bentley will help the researcher identify the location of records
throughout the United States. The two volumes listed below provide examples
of the types of source the researcher should look for in order to acquire a
more in-depth knowledge of the records of a particular area.
Menand, Catherine S.
A Research Guide to Massachusetts Courts
and Their Records. 1987.
Hindus, Michael S.
The Records of the Massachusetts Superior
Court and Its Predecessors: An Inventory and Guide. 1977.
Berkshire County Court Records
Berkshire County Probate Records, 1761-
ca1917, Indexes up to 1930
Microfilm of the Record Books housed at the
Probate Court on Bank Row in Pittsfield. Included are wills, guardianships,
administrations, inventories, orders of notice, trusts and estates. These
records were filmed by the LDS. Due to cost and logistics considerations,
LDS did not film the actual probate dockets, which often contain more
information than was copied into the record books. The indexes that were
filmed correspond, however, to the original dockets. It can be a challenge
to find material in the record books using the docket index, but persistent
researchers often succeed. At this point in time, probate court staff will
access the dockets for researchers, so a good strategy is to identify
ancestors whose records might be useful using the index and then pay a visit
to the probate court to examine the docket(s). Note also that between 1935
and 1963 researcher Elmer Shepard spent a great deal of time transcribing
information from the Berkshire Probate records. Mr. Shepard’s index cards
are available for use at the Athenaeum.
Naturalization Records
Central Berkshire Courts
–
Records filmed by the LDS
from the Superior Court, the Court of Common Pleas, and the District Court.
Dates cover from ca 1830-1941, but not all records after 1920 were filmed.
Later records were sent to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Archives, 1300 New Court House, Boston, MA 02105.
Southern Berkshire Courts
- Records filmed by the LDS from the
District Court cover the years 1885-1906.
Northern Berkshire Courts
- Records filmed by the LDS from the
District Court cover the years 1874-1906.
Divorce Records
Central Berkshire
Divorce Records – LDS film of packets cover the years 1887-1916. Index reels
cover 1802 - ca 1929, but not all corresponding records were filmed.
Veterans’ Grave Registrations
Records filmed by the LDS documenting the
location of the graves of Berkshire County Civil War Veterans. There are
also two reels of Veterans’ Service Records that include individuals who
served in the war from Berkshire County, but may not be buried here.
Court of Common Pleas Records
Berkshire County Records dating from 1761-1859
on 48 microfilm reels. The WPA created a name index to the first 75 volumes
of the series (1761-1854), in the 1930s, which is filmed and included on
reels 47 and 48.
Other Massachusetts Records
Barnes, Thomas G., ed.
The Book of the General Laws and Libertyes
Concerning the Inhabitants of the Massachusetts. Facsimile Edition,
1975. [NOTE: the library has numerous additional volumes concerning the
laws of Massachusetts.]
Massachusetts. Records of the Governor and
Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. 5 volumes in 6.
1853-1854. Records cover the years 1628-1686.
Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth.
List of Persons Whose Names Have Been
Changed in Massachusetts, 1780-1892. 1972 republication of the 1893
edition. [NOTE: Requests for name changes were filed with the probate
courts. Lists were then sent to the Office of the Secretary of the
Commonwealth and published yearly in the Massachusetts Acts & Resolves. The
Berkshire Family History Association has extracted those records from the
Acts for the years 1893-1912 and those records are available at the
Library.]
Blake, Francis E.
Worcester County Massachusetts, Warnings,
1737-1788. 1992.
Sanborn, Melinde L.
Lost babes: Fornication Abstracts from
Court Records, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1692-1745. 1992.
Rounds, H. L. Peter.
Abstracts of Bristol County, Massachusetts
Probate Records, (1687-1762). 1987..
Massachusetts, Essex County Court.
Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts
of Essex County, Massachusetts. 1911. Covers the years 1636-1683
Sanborn, Melinde L.
Essex County Massachusetts Probate Index,
1638-1840. 1987
Massachusetts, Suffolk County Court.
Records of the Suffolk County Court,
1671-1680. 1933.
Massachusetts, Suffolk County.
Suffolk County Supreme Judicial Court
Records, 1800-1804 and Massachusetts Divorce Records 1760-1786. LDS
microfilm of original manuscript. Film # 0946895.
Simmons, C.H., ed.
Plymouth Colony Records: wills and
inventories 1633-1669. 1996.
New Plymouth Colony.
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in
New England. 12 volumes in 9. 1855-1861. Covers the period
1633-1692.
Plymouth County, Court of General Sessions of
the Peace. Plymouth County Marriages,
1692-1746; Literally Transcribed from the First Volume of the Inferior Court
of Common Pleas, and from . . . . 1900.
Records of New York and New England
Knox, Grace L.
Connecticut Divorces: Superior Court Records for the Counties of New London,
Tolland & Windham, 1719-1910. 1987.
New Hampshire, Probate Court.
Probate Records of the Province of New
Hampshire, 1907-1915. Volumes 1-3 of the 9 volume set of New
Hampshire State Papers. Early New Hampshire probate for the years
1635-1749.
New Hampshire, General Court.
Index to the Records of the Council of New Hampshire from November 17, 1631,
to April 17, 1784. 1896.
New Hampshire Historical Society.
Collections of the New Hampshire Historical
Society, Containing Province Records and Court Papers from 1680 to 1692,
Notices of Provincial Councilors, and Other Articles Relative to the Early
History of the State. 1866.
Sanborn, George F.
Vital Records of Hampton New Hampshire.
1992-1998. Includes marriages from court records in New Hampshire Province
deeds.
Oberlin, Pauline J.
Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Court
Records, 1772-1799. 1996.
Fiske, Jane F.
Rhode Island General Court of Trials, 1671-1704. 1998.
Fiske, Jane F.
Gleanings from Newport Court Files, 1659-1783. 1998.
Allen, Neal W., ed.
The Court Records of York County, Maine,
Province of Massachusetts Bay. 1958-1964. Covers the period
1692-1718.
Scott, Kenneth.
Naturalizations in the Marine Court, New York City, 1834-1840. 1991.
DeGiorgis, Mary Hoyt.
Record of Proceedings at Justice’s Court of
New Lebanon, NY, 1832-1849. 1991.
Anjou, Gustave.
Ulster County, New York Probate Records in the Office of the Surrogate, and
in the County Clerk’s Office at Kingston, New York. 1980
Christoph, Peter, et al, editors.
Kingston Papers. 1976. Includes
colonial court records of Kingston, New York, from 1661-1675.
Van Laer,
A.J.F., ed. Minutes of the Court of Albany,
Rensselaerswyck and Schenectady, 1668-1685. 1926.
Records
of Courts outside New England
Dobson,
David. Scottish-American Court Records,
1733-1783. 1991.
Filby,
William P., editor. Philadelphia
Naturalization Records: An Index to Records of Aliens’ Declarations of
Intention and/or Oaths of Allegiance, 1789-1880, . . . (in US Courts).
1982.
Wingfield,
Marshall, ed. An Old Virginia Court: Being
a Transcript of the Records of the First Court of Franklin County, Virginia,
1786-1789, with Biographies of the Justices and Stories of Famous Cases.
Microfiche of the 1948 edition.
Harmon, John
Newton. Annals of Tazewell County,
Virginia from 1800 to 1922 in two volumes. Microfiche of records
published 1922-1925. Court records cover the years 1800-1852.
Clemens,
William M. Virginia Wills before 1799: A
Complete Abstract Register of All Names Mentioned in over 600 Wills, Copied
from the Courthouse Records of Amherst, Bedford, Campbell, Loudon, Prince
William and Rockridge Counties. Microfiche of the 1924 edition.
Chalkley,
Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish
Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta
County. Microfiche of the 1912 edition.
In Summary
The discussion here of Berkshire County Court
Record collections at the Berkshire Athenaeum is comprehensive. The volumes
listed provide a sampling of materials available, most of which can be
located via the electronic card catalog by conducting a keyword search using
the terms ‘court’ and ‘records’. Searching by more specific localities will
result in the location of other materials. Often court records were used in
the preparation of individual town or county histories. They frequently have
been included in publications such as the
Register of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society or in
comprehensive collections such as the
Documentary History of the State of New York. Many other indexes and
abstractions of court records have been created and published. In the past
few years, records of this type have been published in digital format on
CD-ROM, or have been placed on the Internet in their entirety. Library
Staff in the Local History Department are always available to help you
locate records applicable to your particular research problem.
Also, keep in mind that through the
LDS microfilm-ordering program, court
records from around the country and around the world can be delivered to the
Athenaeum for your use, without the expense of traveling!¨
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