Connecticut County Court, Probate, Tax and Other Miscellaneous Records

See Also Research In State Court Records

Even today, few people escape mention in court records at some time during their lives as witnesses, litigants, jurors, appointees to office, or as petition signatories. However, Americans of a few generations ago also expected to attend local court proceedings when they were in session. It was a civic duty-and they could be fined if they did not attend......

With court records, the researcher finds Connecticut's centralization welcome again, with many held at the Connecticut State Library. Despite this centralization, the array of courts whose records might include such things as debts, apprenticeships, warrants, and misdemeanors, presents a somewhat complicated research challenge.

Justices of the peace, having been appointed by the general assembly, represented the law closest to the people up to the early nineteenth century. What remains of many of these records are at the Connecticut State Library.

Before the creation of counties, the particular court was a court of first instance. "Records of the Particular Court of Connecticut, 1639-1663," Collections of The Connecticut Historical Society, vol. 22 (Hartford, Conn.: the Society, 1928) convey these proceedings before county courts took over. Most of the county court records are in the Connecticut State Library.

The next phase, between 1665-1711, found the addition of the court of assistants as the trial court, the precursor to the superior court that operates to the present. All criminal activities were its purview as well as appeals from lower courts regarding disputes, including divorces. Records of this court up to the twentieth century are generally available at the Connecticut State Library.

Superior court districts are defined by county designation. In the Town Resources, the county is listed, although in trying to determine jurisdiction for earlier records, listings of parent counties will be helpful. Records through the nineteenth century of superior courts operating in each county are generally available at the Conneticut State Library.

Those matters not in the realm of the superior court were heard by the county courts (initially called prerogative or common pleas). The county court, begun in 1666, was abolished in 1955, and its functions were divided between justice courts and superior courts. Most of the county records, to its abolition date, are at the Conneticut State Library.

Courts of common pleas were authorized in the late nineteenth century to assume work that could not be handled by either the justice or superior courts. In 1961 the court system reorganized, abolishing justice courts, creating district courts, and retaining the county superior court and the statewide supreme court

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• Court, Land, Wills & Financial - Court records are an often overlooked, yet very valuable tool for finding information to assist you in your research. Land records, such as deeds, allow you to tie an ancestor to a specific place at a point in time. Other court records like those dealing with finances and estates often list related family members or give interesting details like the total value of property owned by your ancestors to add interest to your family history.

See Also Research In State Probate Records

Probate records include a variety of documents created to support court proceedings in the settlement of an individuals' estates. The number and type of probate records created may vary over time in different jurisdictions and due to the amount of real and personal property involved. The various documents generated in the probate process are rarely filed together......

A Connecticut can boast centralization of many research sources and clear jurisdiction on land and vital records. Probate records finding the correct jurisdiction for a particular time period is more complicated. For the 169 towns, there are about 130 probate districts. Jurisdictional lines have changed considerably over the three centuries, but their function has been consistent in probating wills, distributing estates, and appointing guardians.

Before 1698, probates were handled by the general court or the secretary of the colony and the particular courts. When the four counties were created, the probate jurisdiction paralleled that of the county, but by 1719 the four original districts started to divide. Each present probate district has a genealogy of its own. A Checklist of Probate Records in the Connecticut State Library delineates the lines of descent for each present district.

As with all probate records, not only the court record books themselves (clerk's transcripts of probate proceedings), but the estate papers or files (original wills, receipts, affidavits, etc.) contain essential genealogical information. The record books remain in the probate clerk's office with microfilm copies to about 1915 in the Connecticut State Library and the FHL. The exception is New Haven, whose original record books are at the Connecticut State Library instead of the probate clerk's office. Many of the district estate papers or files to 1900 (some later) have been deposited in the Connecticut State Library. Packets of these original documents have been microfilmed to 1880 and are available on microfilm at both the Connecticut State Library and the FHL. Photocopies of original files are no longer permitted because of their fragile condition. There is a state-wide index of these probate packets at the Connecticut State Library.

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See Also Research In State Immigration & Naturalization Records

Knowing the immigrant's birthplace or last place of residence before emigrating is essential to finding more information in the native land. Yet, unless the ancestors arrived relatively recently in the United States, family origins may have been forgotten. Because most foreign records are kept at the town level, discovering the name of a native town, county, or parish is an important goal. Without that information, it is impossible to know where to conduct research in the country of origin.......

Naturalizations, as with other states, might have been granted in any Connecticut court up to the twentieth century. Some are still in the county courthouses, but all which were held at the Connecticut State Library were transferred to the National Archives/New England Region in 1984 and are being microfilmed with a copy of the film to be returned for research at the state library. Those filed and granted after 1906 are in the federal district court in Bridgeport, Hartford, or New Haven.

• Immigration & Emigration - As our ancestors moved from one country to another, details about their lives were recorded on passenger lists and government documents. Immigration and emigration records can help you learn where your ancestors originally came from, where they went, when they left, who they traveled with, and more.

See Also Researching in Tax Records

Things taxed have included carriages and watches, windows and whiskey, land and slaves. Taxes on documents and tea helped start a war. Arkansas Territory’s sudden tax on bounty lands in the 1820s was enacted and due before the news had time to reach out-of-state owners, permitting the quick seizure and sale of “delinquent” lands. As this variety suggests, name lists of such taxes must be used with a cautious understanding of who should be on the list and who should not...

Taxes were levied for personal property and land through most of Connecticut's history. The town assessor (or lister) made annual lists or rates of all taxables. This generated a considerable number of tax lists across time, but the Connecticut State Library has a list of various tax records still at the town clerk's offices. The Connecticut Historical Society and the genealogical collections throughout the state have some records.

A highly valuable tax record for Connecticut is the U.S. Direct Tax for 1798. The records are extant for nearly half of the towns with some also having rate lists for 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1816. The original booklets indicate rate based on land, dwellings, and personal property, the latter of which is usually itemized. Later years indicate out-of-state owners. The records have not been microfilmed as a group, but the originals can be researched at the Connecticut Historical Society.

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