Adkins Divorce Case Collection

Version: 12 (current) | Updated: 12/4/2025, 3:22:46 PM

Added description

Description

Adkins Divorce Case Collection (1752–1774)

Overview

The Adkins Divorce Case Collection is a digitized assemblage of primary legal documents from the New Haven County Superior Court that chronicle the marital and divorce proceedings involving Joseph Adkins, his wife Tabitha (later Tabitha) Adkins, and related parties between 1752 and 1774. The collection is part of the Connecticut State Library’s New Haven County Superior Court (NHSC) Black, African American, and Indigenous History (BAAI) project and is indexed under the NHSC BAAI Cases Papers Subject database.

Background

The case reflects early colonial Connecticut law, where divorce was rare and often tied to abandonment or moral failings. The documents capture the legal, social, and racial dynamics of the period, including the first recorded marriage of African Americans in the colony and subsequent disputes over paternity and racial identity. The collection was assembled by the Connecticut State Library under a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant and digitized for public access.

Contents

  • Marriage Certificate (1752) – Original record of Joseph Adkins and Tabathy Saxton’s marriage, scanned in TIFF and JPEG, with OCR text and JSON metadata.
  • Mary Brockitt Deposition (1771) – Testimony concerning paternity and racial identity, digitized with accompanying images and metadata.
  • Tabitha Adkins Divorce Petition (1771) – Handwritten petition filed in New Haven County Superior Court, reproduced in TIFF/JPEG and OCR‑transcribed.
  • Green & Co Divorce Petition (1774) – Formal petition and court docket for the 1774 divorce case, scanned and indexed.
  • Supporting Metadata – JSON files detailing provenance, subject headings, and relational links to the NHSC BAAI index.

Scope

The collection covers a single legal narrative spanning 1752–1774, focusing on the Adkins divorce case and its related documents. It is geographically bound to New Haven and Wallingford, Connecticut, and thematically centered on divorce, marriage, legal history, and racial identity. The collection does not include unrelated court cases, subsequent judgments, or ancillary correspondence. It serves scholars of early American legal history, race relations, and genealogical research interested in colonial Connecticut court records.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@eighteenth_century:concept {description: "The 18th century (1701‑1800)"}

@legal_history:concept {description: "Study of legal systems and their development"}

@adkins_divorce_case_collection:collection {title: "Adkins Divorce Case Collection", creator: ["Joseph Adkins", "Tabathy Saxton", "Mary Brockitt", "Tabitha Adkins", "Green & Co"], institution: @connecticut_state_library, start: @date_1752, end: @date_1774, language: "en", subjects: [@divorce, @marriage, @african_american_history, @racial_identity, @legal_history, @legal_documents, @testimony, @eighteenth_century, @new_haven_county, @wallingford], description: "Collection of documents related to the Adkins divorce case, including a marriage certificate, depositions, and court documents from the New Haven County Superior Court.", place: [@new_haven_connecticut, @wallingford]}

@file_pinax -> documents -> @adkins_divorce_case_collection

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> contains -> @marriage_certificate

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> contains -> @deposition_mary_brockitt

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> contains -> @petition

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> contains -> @adkins_divorce_petition

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> indexed by -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> part of -> @project_nhsc_baai

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> created by -> @joseph_adkins

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> created by -> @tabathy_saxton

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> created by -> @mary_brockitt

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> created by -> @tabitha_adkins

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> created by -> @green_and_co

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> associated with -> @new_haven_county_superior_court

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @divorce

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @marriage

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @african_american_history

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @racial_identity

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @legal_history

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @legal_documents

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @testimony

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @eighteenth_century

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @new_haven_county

@adkins_divorce_case_collection -> related to -> @wallingford

Metadata

Title
Adkins Divorce Case Collection
Type
Collection
Creator
Joseph AdkinsTabathy SaxtonMary BrockittTabitha AdkinsGreen & Co
Institution
Connecticut State Library
Created
1752-1774
Language
en
Subjects
Divorce, Marriage, African American History, Racial Identity, Legal History, Legal Documents, Testimony, 18th Century, New Haven County, Wallingford
Place
New Haven, Connecticut, Wallingford, Connecticut
Source
PINAX

Version History (10 versions)

  • ✓ v12 (current) · 12/4/2025, 3:22:46 PM
    "Added description"
  • v11 · 12/4/2025, 2:59:26 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v10 · 12/4/2025, 6:42:29 AM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v9 · 12/4/2025, 6:26:50 AM · View this version
    "Reorganized into 4 groups"
  • v8 · 12/4/2025, 6:26:49 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0NEXKGHQHXZHB7RTRJ84D"
  • v7 · 12/4/2025, 6:26:48 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0NDK57XBHF4HYGBAWMN48"
  • v6 · 12/4/2025, 6:26:46 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0NC9BF668AGY0VK263SEZ"
  • v5 · 12/4/2025, 6:26:45 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0NAVPGC6JZH6A3M38DDNV"
  • v4 · 12/4/2025, 6:16:10 AM · View this version
    "Added OCR to 1 file"
  • v3 · 12/4/2025, 6:16:00 AM · View this version
    "Added OCR to 4 files"

More versions available (pagination not yet implemented)

Additional Components

reorganization-description.txt
# Reorganization Summary

Files were grouped based on their content and relationship to specific events in the divorce case of Joseph and Tabitha Adkins. The organizational strategy prioritizes thematic coherence, creating distinct groups for the marriage certificate, deposition testimony, divorce petition, and general court documents. Each group contains both the original image files and their corresponding reference files. The grouping reflects the chronological and procedural flow of the divorce case while maintaining clear distinctions between different types of documents.

## Groups Created

- **Marriage_Certificate**: Files related to the marriage record of Joseph Adkins and Tabathy Saxton
- **Deposition_Mary_Brockitt**: Files containing the deposition of Mary Brockitt regarding Joseph Adkins' paternity claim
- **Divorce_Petition**: Files containing Tabitha Adkins' petition for divorce from Joseph Adkins
- **Court_Documents**: General court documents related to the divorce proceedings

Parent

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Children (4)