New Haven County Superior Court Inquests Collection

Version: 6 (current) | Updated: 12/4/2025, 3:26:05 PM

Added description

Description

New Haven County Superior Court Inquests Collection

Overview

The New Haven County Superior Court Inquests Collection is a digitized archive of 18th‑century inquest records held by the Connecticut State Library. The collection spans 1713‑1801 and focuses on cases involving Black, African American, and Indigenous individuals. It contains the official reports, jury lists, verdicts, and related legal documents produced by the county’s juries of inquest, as well as ancillary materials such as summonses, indictments, and post‑mortem records. The collection is part of the library’s New Haven County Superior Court (NHSC) files and is indexed in the NHSC BAAI Cases Papers Subject database.

Background

In colonial Connecticut, a jury of inquest was convened to determine the circumstances of sudden or suspicious deaths. The NHSC BAAI initiative seeks to recover and contextualize court records that involve Black, African American, and Indigenous persons. The collection reflects the legal practices of the period and the treatment of marginalized communities within the colonial judicial system. All documents are in English, public‑domain, and were digitized by the Connecticut State Library under a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant.

Contents

The collection includes dozens of sub‑collections, such as the Jupiter Branford and Jupiter Wallingford inquests, the Cush 1722 Indigenous inquest, the Dick 1760 and Dinah 1768 inquests, the Jack 1774 inquest, the Sybil Jackson 1864 post‑mortem, the London 1713 inquest, the Mary Coffe 1719‑1749 case, the Peter Negro 1718 inquest, the Peter Sunk 1735 case, the unnamed Black children 1767‑1769, the unnamed Black man 1771, and related wills and summonses. Each sub‑collection provides high‑resolution TIFF and JPEG scans, OCR‑derived text, and PINAX metadata that record creators, dates, subjects, and places. The documents cover a range of causes of death—suicide, drowning, hanging, murder, accidental death—and include legal determinations, jury verdicts, and cost records.

Scope

The archive covers inquest events in New Haven County, Connecticut, from 1713 to 1801, with references to surrounding towns (Milford, Branford, Derby, Waterbury, etc.). It is limited to the primary inquest documents and their digital surrogates; it does not contain trial transcripts, broader court files, or unrelated legal records. The collection is a primary source for scholars of colonial legal history, African‑American and Indigenous studies, and the historiography of death investigations in early America.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@date_1713:date {}

@date_1801:date {}

@new_haven_inquests_collection:collection {title: "New Haven County Superior Court Inquests Collection", date_range: {start: @date_1713, end: @date_1801}, description: "Collection of inquest documents focusing on Black, African American, and Indigenous individuals in New Haven County, Connecticut."}

@new_haven_inquests_collection -> created by -> [@new_haven_county_superior_court, @jury_of_inquest, @jury_of_enquiry, @haverhill_inquest_jury, @derby_jury]

@new_haven_inquests_collection -> held by -> @connecticut_state_library

@new_haven_inquests_collection -> indexed by -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@new_haven_inquests_collection -> includes -> [@jupiter_branford_inquest_documents, @jupiter_wallingford_inquest:collection, @inquest_documents_cush_1722, @inquest_documents_for_dick_1760:collection, @dinah_inquest_documents, @jack_inquest_collection, @post_mortem_inquest_records, @inquest_documents_london, @mary_coffe_inquest_collection, @sunk_case_master_collection, @unnamed_black_children_inquests, @unnamed_man_inquest, @mary_will_inquest_collection, @inquest_quommong_1748:event, @inquest_suddon_coeke:event]

@new_haven_inquests_collection -> subject -> [@inquest:concept, @death_investigation:concept, @african_american_history:concept, @black_history:concept, @indigenous_history:concept, @legal_documents:concept, @suicide:concept, @hanging:concept, @drowning:concept, @murder:concept, @slavery:concept, @eighteenth_century:concept, @new_haven_county:concept, @baai:concept]

@new_haven_inquests_collection -> location -> [@branford, @wallingford, @new_haven, @milford, @guilford, @derby, @waterbury, @goshen, @new_hartford, @new_storm_north_phila, @durham, @new_town, @ipswich, @stratford, @haverhill, @stony_river, @augusta, @nifford, @new_haven_county, @connecticut]

@derby:place {type: "town", part_of: @new_haven_county}

@waterbury:place {type: "town", part_of: @new_haven_county}

@new_hartford:place {type: "town", part_of: @new_haven_county}

@new_storm_north_phila:place {type: "area", description: "Historical reference to New Storm, North Phila"}

@durham:place {type: "town", part_of: @new_haven_county}

@new_town:place {type: "area", description: "Historical reference to New Town, Connecticut"}

@ipswich:place {type: "town", part_of: @new_haven_county}

@stratford:place {type: "town", part_of: @new_york}

@haverhill:place {type: "town", part_of: @massachusetts}

@stony_river:place {type: "area", part_of: @haverhill}

@augusta:place {type: "town", part_of: @new_haven_county}

@nifford:place {type: "area", description: "Nifford, New Haven County, Connecticut"}

@black_history:concept {description: "Historical study of Black individuals and communities"}

@indigenous_history:concept {description: "Historical study of Indigenous peoples and events"}

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

@baai:concept {description: "Black, African American, and Indigenous history project"}

Metadata

Title
New Haven County Superior Court Inquests Collection
Type
Collection
Creator
New Haven County Superior CourtJury of InquestJury of EnquiryHaverhill Inquest JuryDerby Jury
Institution
Connecticut State Library
Created
1713-1801
Language
en
Subjects
Inquest, Death investigation, African American history, Black History, Indigenous History, Legal Documents, Suicide, Hanging, Drowning, Murder, Slavery, 18th century, New Haven County, Black, African American, and Indigenous History
Rights
Public Domain
Place
Branford, Connecticut, Wallingford, Connecticut, New Haven, Connecticut, Milford, Connecticut, Guilford, Connecticut, Derby, Connecticut, Waterbury, Connecticut, Goshen, Connecticut, New Hartford, Connecticut, New Storm, North Phila, Durham, Connecticut, New Town, Connecticut, Ipswich, Stratford, New York, Haverhill, Massachusetts, Stony River, Haverhill, Augusta, Nifford, New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut, Connecticut
Source
PINAX

Version History (6 versions)

  • ✓ v6 (current) · 12/4/2025, 3:26:05 PM
    "Added description"
  • v5 · 12/4/2025, 3:08:46 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v4 · 12/4/2025, 6:46:20 AM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v3 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:54 AM · View this version
    "Set parent to 01KBKZZ7VHHY9D5YXJX4400CQW"
  • v2 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:43 AM · View this version
    "Added children"
  • v1 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:27 AM · View this version
    "Initial snapshot"

Parent

↑ 01KBKZZ7VHHY9D5YXJX4400CQW

Children (18)