Jupiter Wallingford Inquest Collection

Version: 10 (current) | Updated: 12/4/2025, 3:25:04 PM

Added description

Description

Jupiter Wallingford Inquest Collection

Overview

The Jupiter Wallingford Inquest Collection is a small archival set of digitized court records held by the Connecticut State Library. It is part of the New Haven County Superior Court (NHSC) files under the Black, African American, and Indigenous History (BAAI) initiative. The collection contains two high‑resolution TIFF images of the “Return of a Jury of Inquest” dated February 11 1763, along with OCR‑extracted text and accompanying metadata (pinax.json). The materials are in English and are publicly available.

Background

In colonial Connecticut, inquests were public judicial inquiries conducted by a jury of local residents to determine the cause of sudden or suspicious deaths. The case of Jupiter, an enslaved African man who served Joel Canfield of Wallingford, illustrates the legal status of enslaved people in the 18th‑century New England colonies. The collection is part of the NHSC BAAI program, which seeks to recover and contextualize court records involving African‑American and Indigenous persons.

Contents

  • Return of a Jury of Inquest (two scanned pages, 51 MB and 50 MB) – handwritten document recording the jury’s findings that Jupiter died “in a sudden fit” and that the death was “merely casual.”
  • List of jurors – names of 13 jurors, including Andrea Bartholomew, Samuel Hooper, Jori Emmons, and others.
  • Metadata files – pinax.json and OCR‑extracted text files providing machine‑readable transcriptions and indexing information.
  • Subject index – controlled terms such as “Inquest,” “Death investigation,” “African American history,” “Slavery,” and “Wallingford, Connecticut.”

Scope

The collection covers a single inquest event dated February 11 1763 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut. It includes the primary court record (the return) and its digital surrogates but does not contain the full case file, related affidavits, or subsequent legal actions. The material is valuable for scholars of colonial legal history, slavery, and African‑American studies, offering a rare glimpse into how enslaved individuals were treated within the judicial system of 18th‑century New England.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@file_pinax:file {filename: "pinax.json", format: "PINAX", title: "Jupiter Wallingford Inquest Collection", creator: @new_haven_county_superior_court, institution: @connecticut_state_library, created: @date_1763_02_11, language: "en", subjects: ["Inquest","Death investigation","African American history","Slavery","Legal documents","Wallingford","New Haven County","Black, African American, and Indigenous History","Historical Records"], description: "Collection of inquest reference files and documents related to the death of Jupiter, an enslaved African man, servant of Joel Canfield of Wallingford, New Haven County, in 1763. This collection is part of the New Haven County Superior Court files focusing on Black, African American, and Indigenous history.", access_url: "PLACEHOLDER", source: "PINAX", rights: "Public Domain", places: ["Wallingford, Connecticut","New Haven County, Connecticut"]}

@file_pinax -> describes -> @jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection -> same as -> @jupiter_wallingford_inquest_collection

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection -> indexed by -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection -> part of -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection -> contains -> @inquest_event

@inquest_event -> documented by -> @return_of_jury_of_inquest

@return_of_jury_of_inquest -> part of -> @jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection

@jupiter -> subject of -> @jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection

@joel_canfield -> mentioned in -> @jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection

@file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_001_jpg -> image of -> @return_of_jury_of_inquest

@file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_001_jpg -> part of -> @jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection

@file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_002_jpg -> image of -> @return_of_jury_of_inquest

@file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_002_jpg -> part of -> @jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection

@file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_001_jpg -> same content as -> @file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_001_tif

@file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_002_jpg -> same content as -> @file_rg003_nhcc_baai_ps_inquests_jupiter_wallingford_002_tif

@nhsc_baai_cases_papers -> subset of -> @nhsc

@nhsc_baai_cases_papers -> focuses on -> @baai

@nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject -> describes -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest_collection -> indexed by -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest_collection -> part of -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest_collection -> part of -> @nhsc

@jupiter_wallingford_inquest_collection -> focuses on -> @baai

Metadata

Title
Jupiter Wallingford Inquest Collection
Type
Collection
Creator
New Haven County Superior Court
Institution
Connecticut State Library
Created
1763-02-11
Language
en
Subjects
Inquest, Death investigation, African American history, Slavery, Legal documents, Wallingford, New Haven County, Black, African American, and Indigenous History, Historical Records
Rights
Public Domain
Place
Wallingford, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut
Source
PINAX

Version History (10 versions)

  • ✓ v10 (current) · 12/4/2025, 3:25:04 PM
    "Added description"
  • v9 · 12/4/2025, 3:04:20 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v8 · 12/4/2025, 6:44:13 AM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v7 · 12/4/2025, 6:32:16 AM · View this version
    "Reorganized into 4 groups"
  • v6 · 12/4/2025, 6:32:14 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0ZCB8NHH23P6XFQQ6EZYN"
  • v5 · 12/4/2025, 6:32:13 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0ZATGK1NJ0MF3E2VHE9T2"
  • v4 · 12/4/2025, 6:22:14 AM · View this version
    "Added OCR to 1 file"
  • v3 · 12/4/2025, 6:22:04 AM · View this version
    "Added OCR to 1 file"
  • v2 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:45 AM · View this version
    "Set parent to 01KBKZYT0EP3B3FKJHAY6X008T"
  • v1 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:02 AM · View this version
    "Initial snapshot"

Additional Components

reorganization-description.txt
# Reorganization Summary

The files were organized into four distinct groups based on content type and purpose: (1) the actual inquest documents in JPEG format, (2) their corresponding metadata reference files, (3) high-resolution TIFF preservation copies, and (4) the metadata for those preservation copies. This approach separates the different versions and their metadata while keeping all related to the same historical event together conceptually. The grouping reflects both the content (the Jupiter Wallingford inquest) and the technical characteristics of the files (formats and purposes).

## Groups Created

- **Jupiter_Wallingford_Inquest_Documents**: Files containing the official inquest documents regarding the death of Jupiter, a Black man enslaved by Joel Canfield of Wallingford in 1763.
- **Jupiter_Wallingford_Inquest_Reference_Files**: Reference files (JSON metadata) associated with the Jupiter Wallingford inquest documents.
- **Jupiter_Wallingford_Inquest_Preservation_Copies**: High-resolution preservation copies (TIFF format) of the inquest documents.
- **Jupiter_Wallingford_Inquest_TIFF_Reference_Files**: Reference files (JSON metadata) for the TIFF preservation copies.

Parent

↑ 01KBKZYT0EP3B3FKJHAY6X008T

Children (2)