|
Jump directly to Index of Documents
Introduction to the Bristol County, Massachusetts, Court Records
The Bristol County Court Records are an accumulation of single-sheet file documents issued by (or directed to) the judiciary of Bristol County in southeastern Massachusetts, mostly during the colonial period. Bristol County was established in 1685, and was incorporated into Massachusetts Bay with the dissolution of the Plymouth colony in 1691. During the colonial period, its notable towns included Attleborough, Berkeley, Dartmouth, Dighton, Easton, Freetown, Norton, Raynham, Rehoboth, Swansea, and Taunton. Barrington, Bristol, Little Compton, Tiverton, and Warren lay within Bristol County until 1746, when the colonial boundary was redrawn and the towns were consigned to Rhode Island. The county seats were Bristol and, after 1746, Taunton. Seventy-eight of the 96 records date from the Second Charter period in Massachusetts legal history (1692-1760); 56 predate 1730; five date from the seventeenth century. The earliest document is a 1696/7 writ of attachment issued by Bristol County justice John Saffin; the latest is an 1816 recognizance issued by Zebedee Macomber.
The Bristol County collection includes documents deriving from every tier of the county court system. At the base of this hierarchy were the one-man courts of the county's justices of the peace. These courts had jurisdiction over minor civil suits (in which the amount at issue was less than 40 shillings, and title to land was not in question) as well as over cases involving petty criminal offenses, like profanity, defamation, or minor trespass. Cases heard by individual justices could be appealed to the county's two trial courts, the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace. Common Pleas, composed of four justices meeting quarterly at Bristol (or Taunton), possessed original jurisdiction over all civil suits in which damages sought exceeded 40 shillings, except for those involving the crown as plaintiff. General Sessions was also a quarterly court, composed of Bristol County's justices sitting collectively. In its adjudicatory capacity it heard all but the most serious of criminal cases. It also had extensive county administrative functions; it oversaw road and bridge construction, issued licenses (including licenses to sell alcohol and to operate boarding houses, several examples of which are included in the collection), and approved town by-laws. This judicial structure changed relatively little over the course of the eighteenth century. More than 60 per cent of the documents in the collection relate to cases referred to or heard by the Court of General Sessions, including most of the items predating 1725. Around 25 per cent relate to cases before Common Pleas; most of the remainder document cases heard by individual county justices.
The collection includes examples of at least 15 specific document types, representing various stages of judicial procedure. Among those more frequently encountered are: complaints and petitions directed by plaintiffs (and others) to the several courts; summonses, writs of attachment, and arrest warrants (instruments used by the courts to initiate legal proceedings, served by a sheriff or constable); bonds of recognizance (whereby the courts sought compliance by threatening the forfeiture of pledged monies); writs relating to jury duty; jury presentments; and memoranda of judgment and writs of execution. Most of the Court of Common Pleas documents pertain to actions between private individuals for the collection of debts. The General Sessions documents typically indicate either minor criminal offenses against order (sabbath violations, vagrancy, drunkenness, and so on) or sexual misconduct (especially fornication and bastardy). Also represented are cases against public officials, usually selectmen (failure to hire a minister or elect a constable; over- or under-taxation). Only occasionally do two or more documents within the collection pertain to the same specific case. Many of the documents—especially warrants—bear endorsements.
Provenance note: The collection of Bristol County court records was assembled by the University Libraries over the years 2000 to 2005. Most of the individual items were purchased via ebay, from Lonn B. Leach of Davie, Florida.
Bibliographic note: An excellent introduction to the legal history of seventeenth and eighteenth century Massachusetts is the collection of essays published as Law in Colonial Massachusetts 1630-1800, Boston, 1984 (vol. 62 of the Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts). Much of Part II of this work deals with the records themselves.
Index of Documents
| NUMBER |
 |
DOCUMENT NAME |
|
DATE |
| MSN/COL 2717-1 | | Writ of attachment against Edward Hammon and Esther Andrews | | January 4, 1696/7 |
| MSN/COL 2717-2 | | Ephraim Burt testimony memorandum | | December 9, 1697 |
| MSN/COL 2717-3 | | Ephraim Burt and Samuel Waldron bill of costs | | January 11, 1697/8 |
| MSN/COL 2717-4 | | Writ of execution against John Graves | | October 12, 1698 |
| MSN/COL 2717-5 | | John Read, et al., recognizance | | April 3, 1699 |
| MSN/COL 2717-6 | | Writ of attachment against Sarah White | | December 13, 1700 |
| MSN/COL 2717-7 | | Little Compton jury summons and summons to the town selectmen | | June 14, 1703 |
| MSN/COL 2717-8 | | Thomas Hathaway, et al. summons | | October 30, 1704 |
| MSN/COL 2717-10 | | Writ of execution against Nathaniel Smith | | November 20, 1705 |
| MSN/COL 2717-11 | | Freetown selectmen summons | | December 13, 1705 |
| MSN/COL 2717-12 | | Freetown selectmen court order | | January 13, 1707/8 |
| MSN/COL 2717-13 | | Tax assessors of Bristol summons | | January 8, 1705/6 |
| MSN/COL 2717-14 | | Dartmouth court order | | April 11, 1707 |
| MSN/COL 2717-15 | | George Berstow recognizance | | July 8, 1707 |
| MSN/COL 2717-16 | | George Berstow recognizance | | July 8, 1707 |
| MSN/COL 2717-17 | | Seth Pope recognizance | | July 8, 1707 |
| MSN/COL 2717-18 | | David Freeman recognizance | | July 13, 1708 |
| MSN/COL 2717-19 | | Samuel Humphrey recognizance | | July 13, 1708 |
| MSN/COL 2717-20 | | Selectmen of Bristol summons | | September 22, 1708 |
| MSN/COL 2717-21 | | Presentment against Philip Tabor | | October 12, 1708 |
| MSN/COL 2717-22 | | Presentment against William Wood | | July 12, 1709 |
| MSN/COL 2717-23 | | Ebenezer and Mary Bishop petition | | April 8, 1712 |
| MSN/COL 2717-24 | | Elizabeth Smith summons | | June 10, 1712 |
| MSN/COL 2717-25 | | Frank Towning recognizance | | January 19, 1712/13 |
| MSN/COL 2717-26 | | William Almy petition | | April 8, 1718 |
| MSN/COL 2717-27 | | Mary Adams Summons | | May 13, 1718 |
| MSN/COL 2717-28 | | William Throope complaint | | April 14, 1719 |
| MSN/COL 2717-29 | | Lemuel Pope petition | | April 14, 1719 |
| MSN/COL 2717-30 | | Warrant of contempt against John Rosher | | April 22, 1719 |
| MSN/COL 2717-31 | | Judgement against Thomas Brownell | | February 9, 1719/20 |
| MSN/COL 2717-32 | | Thomas Brownell recognizance | | February 9, 1719/20 |
| MSN/COL 2717-33 | | George Brownell recognizance | | February 16, 1719/20 |
| MSN/COL 2717-34 | | Selectmen of Norton summons | | April 13, 1720 |
| MSN/COL 2717-35 | | Complaint of Martha Price | | May 24-25, 1720 |
| MSN/COL 2717-36 | | Warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Corry (Cory), et al. | | June 25, 1720 |
| MSN/COL 2717-37 | | Mary Roshar recognizance | | June 22, 1722 |
| MSN/COL 2717-38 | | John Perren petition | | July 10, 1722 |
| MSN/COL 2717-39 | | Timothy Holoway summons | | December 3, 1722 |
| MSN/COL 2717-40 | | Mary Hix recognizance | | January 1, 1722/3 |
| MSN/COL 2717-41 | | William Leonard summons | | April 18 1723 |
| MSN/COL 2717-42 | | Cristifer Thrasher recognizance | | May 6, 1723 |
| MSN/COL 2717-43 | | Writ of attachment against Constant Church | | June 17, 1724 |
| MSN/COL 2717-44 | | Benanuel Bowers summons | | June 22, 1724 |
| MSN/COL 2717-45 | | Writ of attachment against Squier Allen and Joseph Allen | | June 17, 1725 |
| MSN/COL 2717-46 | | Writ of attachment against Thomas Homan | | September 25, 1725 |
| MSN/COL 2717-47 | | Anna Cobb recognizance | | May 18, 1726 |
| MSN/COL 2717-48 | | Writ of attachment against Samuel Clark | | May 24, 1726 |
| MSN/COL 2717-49 | | Jonathan Linkon, et al recognizance | | March 23, 1727/8 |
| MSN/COL 2717-50 | | Elizebeth Easton complaint | | September 17, 1728 |
| MSN/COL 2717-51 | | Elizebeth Easton recognizance | | November 8, 1729 |
| MSN/COL 2717-52 | | Tallman v. Joslyn bill of costs | | September 22, 1728 |
| MSN/COL 2717-53 | | Charles Joslin writ of attachment | | June 20, 1732 |
| MSN/COL 2717-54 | | Jeremiah Witherel summons | | January 11, 1728/9 |
| MSN/COL 2717-55 | | Writ of attachment against William Creese | | March 4, 1728/9 |
| MSN/COL 2717-56 | | Writ of attachment against Joseph Jenkins | | March 4, 1728/9 |
| MSN/COL 2717-57 | | Writ of attachment against Thomas Turner | | April 13, 1730 |
| MSN/COL 2717-58 | | Writ of execution against John Clap | | January 11, 1733/4 |
| MSN/COL 2717-59 | | Easton jury summons | | June 10, 1734 |
| MSN/COL 2717-60 | | Tiverton jury summons | | June 10, 1734 |
| MSN/COL 2717-61 | | Warrant for the arrest of William Akens | | July 16, 1734 |
| MSN/COL 2717-62 | | Joseph Tisdale summons | | August 24, 1741 |
| MSN/COL 2717-63 | | Writ of execution against David Seaberry | | June 15, 1743 |
| MSN/COL 2717-64 | | Writ of execution against Samuel Thrasher and Bezaliel Thrasher | | June 17, 1743 |
| MSN/COL 2717-65 | | Writ of attachment against John Marshall | | August 10, 1743 |
| MSN/COL 2717-66 | | Israel Peck summons | | June 25, 1744 |
| MSN/COL 2717-67 | | Marey Whelch recognizance | | August 6, 1744 |
| MSN/COL 2717-68 | | John Throop, Jr. and Sarah Child jury presentment | | June 1744 |
| MSN/COL 2717-69 | | John Throop, Jr. and Sarah Child warrant | | August 8, 1744 |
| MSN/COL 2717-70 | | Warrant for the arrest of Joseph Raynolds, Jr. | | August 17, 1744 |
| MSN/COL 2717-71 | | Writ of attachment against Nathaniel Bosworth and Thomas Lawton | | August 25, 1744 |
| MSN/COL 2717-72 | | Presentment against Ebenezer Hodges | | March 1746/7 |
| MSN/COL 2717-73 | | Judgement against Stephen Baker | | March 12, 1747/8 |
| MSN/COL 2717-74 | | Swansea selectmen summons | | April 8, 1748 |
| MSN/COL 2717-75 | | Berkeley jury summons | | May 12, 1748 |
| MSN/COL 2717-76 | | Rehoboth jury summons | | August 30, 1748 |
| MSN/COL 2717-77 | | Swansea jury summons | | August 30, 1748 |
| MSN/COL 2717-78 | | Swansea petition | | September 11, 1748 |
| MSN/COL 2717-79 | | Judgement against Daniel Allen, Jr. | | June 11, 1763 |
| MSN/COL 2717-80 | | Stephen Wilbore recognizance | | August 9, 1773 |
| MSN/COL 2717-81 | | Joannah Read recognizance | | January 12, 1774 |
| MSN/COL 2717-82 | | Sarah Brown recognizance | | December 6, 1774 |
| MSN/COL 2717-83 | | Samuel Pratt recognizance | | December 20, 1774 |
| MSN/COL 2717-84 | | Betty Chase examination | | November 7, 1775 |
| MSN/COL 2717-85 | | Complaint of Lydia Briggs | | February 28, 1776 |
| MSN/COL 2717-86 | | Presentment against Job Smith | | March 11, 1777 |
| MSN/COL 2717-87 | | Berkley committee petition | | April 18, 1777 |
| MSN/COL 2717-88 | | Joshua Hathaway deposition | | May 2, 1777 |
| MSN/COL 2717-89 | | Mansfield selectmen report | | June 30, 1777 |
| MSN/COL 2717-90 | | Presentment against Ebenezer Peirce | | June 1777 |
| MSN/COL 2717-91 | | Complaint of Silence Burr | | December 26, 1777 |
| MSN/COL 2717-92 | | Judgment against William Witherell | | January 19, 1784 |
| MSN/COL 2717-93 | | Judgment against Japheth Bicknal | | August 6, 1785 |
| MSN/COL 2717-94 | | Judgment against George Brock | | August 24, 1787 |
| MSN/COL 2717-95 | | Presentment against Asher Ellis | | April 1797 |
| MSN/COL 2717-96 | | Bradford Howland recognizance | | October 11, 1816 |
|
