New Haven County Superior Court Indigenous Cases Collection

Version: 10 (current) | Updated: 12/4/2025, 3:24:50 PM

Added description

Description

Moses vs. Turkey Hill Court Petition Collection

Overview

This digitized collection contains the primary court documents from the May 1871 case of Moses vs. Turkey Hill, adjudicated by the New Haven County Superior Court. The set includes the original petition, a court citation, and the Superior Court order authorizing the sale of a seven‑acre parcel of land held by the Turkey Hill Indians tribe in Derby, Connecticut. Each document is available as a high‑resolution JPEG and a lossless TIFF scan, accompanied by OCR‑extracted text and structured metadata.

Background

In the early 1870s, descendants of the Turkey Hill Indians—Roswell Moses, Eliza Franklin, Elizabeth Moses, and Georgiana Moses—filed a petition to sell land that had remained unused for decades. The case was brought before the New Haven County Superior Court and represented by the law firm Wooster & Torrance. The petition was part of a broader effort to secure financial benefits for the tribe through the sale and reinvestment of land proceeds. The collection is part of the Connecticut State Library’s New Haven County Superior Court Indigenous Cases Collection, a subset of the BAAI (Black, African American, and Indigenous History) project.

Contents

  • Petition – Formal request to the court for the sale of Turkey Hill land, detailing petitioners’ lineage and land status.
  • Citation – Legal notice addressed to the tribe’s overseer, calling him to appear before the court.
  • Court Order – Superior Court decree authorizing the sale, specifying the overseer’s authority to sell, reinvest proceeds, and report annually.
  • Images – High‑resolution JPEG and TIFF scans of the three primary documents.
  • Metadata – Structured data linking the documents to the New Haven County Superior Court, the Turkey Hill Indians, and the broader NHSC BAAI Indigenous Cases series.

Scope

The collection documents a single legal event—Moses vs. Turkey Hill—in May 1871, focusing on indigenous land rights, land‑sale procedures, and court proceedings in New Haven County. It is relevant to scholars of 19th‑century Connecticut legal history, indigenous studies, and land‑use policy. The collection does not include ancillary documents such as the original land deeds or subsequent sale records, which may be found in related collections.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@indigenous_cases_collection:collection {title: "New Haven County Superior Court Indigenous Cases Collection", created: @date_1871_05, institution: @connecticut_state_library, description: "Collection of court documents related to legal cases involving Indigenous individuals and tribes in New Haven County, Connecticut, including petitions, exhibits, and other legal documents from the New Haven County Superior Court."}


@file_pinax -> documents -> @indigenous_cases_collection


@indigenous_cases_collection -> created by -> [@roswell_moses, @eliza_franklin, @elizabeth_moses, @georgiana_moses, @thomas_phillips, @wooster_torrance, @frederick_w_holden]


@indigenous_cases_collection -> contains -> @moses_vs_turkey_hill_collection


@indigenous_cases_collection -> contains -> @derby_savings_bank_vs_mathewson_exhibit


@indigenous_cases_collection -> associated with place -> [@derby, @new_haven_county, @ansonia_connecticut]


@indigenous_cases_collection -> subject -> @indigenous_rights


@indigenous_cases_collection -> subject -> @land_sale


@indigenous_cases_collection -> subject -> @turkey_hill_indians


@indigenous_cases_collection -> subject -> @legal_petition


@indigenous_cases_collection -> subject -> @legal_documents


@indigenous_cases_collection -> subject -> @derby_savings_bank


@indigenous_cases_collection -> subject -> @a_mcclellan_mathewson


@indigenous_cases_collection -> part of -> @baai_project


@indigenous_cases_collection -> uses subject field -> @subject_field


@indigenous_rights:concept {description: "Rights of Indigenous peoples"}


@land_sale:concept {description: "Legal transaction involving transfer of land"}


@legal_petition:concept {description: "Formal request to a court for relief"}


@legal_documents:concept {description: "Official documents used in legal proceedings"}

Metadata

Version History (10 versions)

  • ✓ v10 (current) · 12/4/2025, 3:24:50 PM
    "Added description"
  • v9 · 12/4/2025, 3:04:19 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v8 · 12/4/2025, 6:44:00 AM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v7 · 12/4/2025, 6:32:14 AM · View this version
    "Reorganized into 2 groups"
  • v6 · 12/4/2025, 6:32:13 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0ZBHM7S3ZE3956SK1WC59"
  • v5 · 12/4/2025, 6:32:11 AM · View this version
    "Added child entity 01KBM0Z9RXGYY4RFK0XKRK51QZ"
  • v4 · 12/4/2025, 6:21:51 AM · View this version
    "Added OCR to 2 files"
  • v3 · 12/4/2025, 6:21:37 AM · View this version
    "Added OCR to 2 files"
  • v2 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:46 AM · View this version
    "Set parent to 01KBKZYT0E63119HXHP2F6YZHF"
  • v1 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:07 AM · View this version
    "Initial snapshot"

Additional Components

reorganization-description.txt
# Reorganization Summary

The files were grouped based on their content and context. The primary grouping is centered around the court case 'Roswell Moses et al. vs. the Turkey Hill Indians tribe,' which includes the petition, court orders, and related documents. A secondary group was created for the exhibit related to 'Derby Savings Bank vs. A. McClellan Mathewson et al.,' as it is a distinct legal document attached to a different case. The TIFF files were matched to their corresponding JPEG files based on their filenames and metadata, ensuring they are grouped with their respective content sets.

## Groups Created

- **Moses_vs_TurkeyHill_Court_Petition**: Files containing the petition and court proceedings regarding Roswell Moses et al. vs. the Turkey Hill Indians tribe, including the request for land sale and court orders.
- **Derby_Savings_Bank_vs_Mathewson_Exhibit**: Files related to the exhibit attached to the statement of Thomas Phillips in the case of Derby Savings Bank vs. A. McClellan Mathewson et al.

Parent

01KBKZYT0E63119HXHP2F6YZHF

Children (2)