New Haven County Superior Court Divorce Case: Marks vs. Levi and Hope Collection

Version: 9 (current) | Updated: 12/4/2025, 3:23:45 PM

Added description

Description

New Haven County Superior Court Divorce Case: Marks vs. Levi and Hope (1798‑1799) – High‑Resolution TIFF Collection

Overview

This archival collection comprises four high‑resolution TIFF scans of legal documents from a New Haven County Superior Court divorce proceeding involving Levi Marks and Hope Marks. The documents, dated December 18, 1798, record the petition alleging adultery and the court’s summons and instructions. The collection is part of the Connecticut State Library’s New Haven County Superior Court (NHSC) record group 3 and is indexed under the NHSC BAAI Cases Papers Subject field, which catalogs cases related to Black, African American, and Indigenous history.

Background

The collection is a product of the NHPRC‑funded New Haven County court project, specifically the “Black, African American, and Indigenous History” (BAAI) retrospective. It reflects late‑18th‑century Connecticut divorce procedures and contributes to the library’s effort to make court records involving African American and Native American individuals accessible. The metadata (pinax.json) provides structured data on the collection’s title, creator, date, subjects, and geographic references.

Contents

  • RG003NHSCBAAIPSDivorceMarksLeviHope001.tif – Petition front page with filing date and parties.
  • RG003NHSCBAAIPSDivorceMarksLeviHope002.tif – Petition heading and citation.
  • RG003NHSCBAAIPSDivorceMarksLeviHope003.tif – Body of the petition detailing alleged adultery.
  • RG003NHSCBAAIPSDivorceMarksLeviHope004.tif – Court instructions to the constable and summons to Hope Marks.
  • pinax.json – Structured metadata describing the collection.
  • OCR text – Searchable text extracted from each image.

Scope

The collection documents the divorce petition filed on December 18, 1798, and the related court documents issued in early 1799. It focuses on the parties Levi Marks and Hope Marks, the alleged adultery, and the procedural steps of the New Haven County Superior Court. Geographic coverage includes Wallingford, Haddam, and New Haven, Connecticut. The collection is limited to the petition, citation, summons, and associated metadata; it does not contain subsequent court rulings, responses, or unrelated case files.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@file_pinax:file {filename: "pinax.json", type: "Metadata (PINAX)", title: "New Haven County Superior Court Divorce Case: Marks vs. Levi and Hope Collection", creator: [@levi_marks, @new_haven_county_superior_court], institution: @connecticut_state_library, created: @date_1798_12_18, language: "en", subjects: [@divorce, @adultery, @legal_documents, @new_haven_county_subject, @baai_history, @african_american_history], description: "Collection of documents related to the divorce petition filed by Levi Marks against Hope Marks in Wallingford, Connecticut, alleging adultery and other marital misconduct. Includes high-resolution TIFF copies of legal documents from the New Haven County Superior Court involving parties named Marks, Levi, and Hope.", places: [@wallingford_connecticut, @new_haven_connecticut, @haddam_connecticut, @new_haven_county]}

@adultery:concept {term: "Adultery"}

@divorce_petition_document -> alleges -> @adultery:concept

@divorce_petition_collection -> indexed by -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@collection_divorce_marks_levi_hope -> indexed by -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@file_pinax -> describes -> @collection_divorce_marks_levi_hope

@file_pinax -> documents -> @divorce_petition_collection

Metadata

Title
New Haven County Superior Court Divorce Case: Marks vs. Levi and Hope Collection
Type
Collection
Creator
Levi MarksNew Haven County Superior Court
Institution
Connecticut State Library
Created
1798-12-18
Language
en
Subjects
Divorce, Adultery, Legal Petitions, Legal Documents, New Haven County Superior Court, Black, African American, and Indigenous History, African American History
Place
Wallingford, Connecticut, New Haven, Connecticut, Haddam, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut
Source
PINAX

Version History (9 versions)

  • ✓ v9 (current) · 12/4/2025, 3:23:45 PM
    "Added description"
  • v8 · 12/4/2025, 3:01:27 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v7 · 12/4/2025, 6:43:10 AM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v6 · 12/4/2025, 6:29:09 AM · View this version
    "Reorganized into 2 groups"
  • v5 · 12/4/2025, 6:29:08 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0SPF4CSS0F0XD25JX8CVD"
  • v4 · 12/4/2025, 6:29:06 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0SMYZJ3DWFAE0JH4CRJHG"
  • v3 · 12/4/2025, 6:19:09 AM · View this version
    "Added OCR to 4 files"
  • v2 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:50 AM · View this version
    "Set parent to 01KBKZYT0E4WN250H1RKB10E89"
  • v1 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:07 AM · View this version
    "Initial snapshot"

Additional Components

reorganization-description.txt
# Reorganization Summary

The files were grouped into two categories: one containing the divorce petition documents (both JPEGs and their JSON references) and another containing the high-resolution TIFF versions of the same documents (with their JSON references). This organization separates the files by content type (textual legal documents vs. high-resolution image copies) while maintaining thematic coherence around the Levi Marks vs. Hope Marks divorce case.

## Groups Created

- **Divorce_Petition_LeviMarks_vs_HopeMarks**: Files containing the divorce petition and related legal documents from Levi Marks against Hope Marks, including the petition text and court citations.
- **High_Resolution_TIFF_Copies**: High-resolution TIFF versions of the divorce petition documents, matching the content of the JPEG files but in a different format.

Parent

↑ 01KBKZYT0E4WN250H1RKB10E89

Children (2)