Transcription of the volume for 1760–1762
Transcription of the volume of maritime cases, 1779–1783, 1788
The record books of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature begin in the late 17th century and continue, virtually uninterrupted, until the creation of the court’s successor, the current Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in 1780.1 They are large-folio bound volumes, written for the most part in a quite legible 18th-century script. They seem to record all the business that came before the court. What they do record is recorded in considerable detail.
The books are in the custody of the current Supreme Judicial Court. Access to them is possible but difficult, and photographing them is particularly difficult because of their size. For this reason they have not been much used by legal historians, though they contain a mine of information for legal historians. In the 1970s, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints in Utah microfilmed the records. Digital versions of these films are available on the website FamilySearch, but are difficult to use for legal-historical purposes.
With this in mind, and through the kindness of the Genealogical Society of Utah and FamilySearch, the Foundation obtained digital copies of these films. The Supreme Judicial Court gave us permission to publish them. The Foundation commissioned Digital Data Divide Ventures, Inc., to create baseline transcription of each volume. Professor Sally Hadden, of Western Michigan University and a director of the Foundation, has been supervising the team of research assistants who have been verifying the transcriptions, tandem-reading them to correct errors, and indexing them. Much work remains to be done, but we have reached the point where we can publish online a transcription of the volume that covers main business of the court in the years 1760–1762 and that which contains admiralty cases from 1779–1783, and 1788. Others will follow, as will a proper introduction and indexing.
The transcriptions strive to be diplomatic. Original spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been retained, as have the original line breaks. Rather than trying to mimic the layout of the originals, we have indicated it with the following symbols as seen in this example:
Each new page begins with:
NP
Image 547-Right = The image number on the microfilm, and whether it is the left or right side of the image. We plan to hyperlink these to the images, but that has not yet been done.2
451 = The folio number if the clerk put it in.
[451r] = Our folio number.
In the text:
<< = The beginning of any marginalia.
>> = The end of any marginalia.
<_> = A wide underline that the clerk put in to separate entries.
[^ TEXT ^] = Text that is interlined.3
} = Bracketing so that any text following is flushed to the right.
TEXT = Text that is struck through.4
<TEXT> = Something that we have added.
[TEXT] = Something in the text that is questionable.
(TEXT) = Parentheses in the original text.
[-] One or more dashes to indicate, it would seem, that nothing belongs in the space so filled.
[x] One or more x’s or flourishes used by the clerk to indicate that nothing else should be inserted or was missing from the original record.
Carry-over words are flushed left; in the text they are normally flushed right.
Each volume contains a manuscript table of cases, alphabetical by the first party’s surname. The tables were probably compiled when the volume was bound. References are to the folio numbers in the volume. They have not been checked for errors.
The volumes are arranged by formal sessions of the court in chronological order. The tables of contents found below and again with annotations at the beginning of the PDFs list those sessions. The sessions are also found in the right running head of the PDF. The left running head gives the name of the volume. Both running heads have the page numbers in the PDF. We do not recommend that these numbers be used for reference purposes, because they are likely to change. Better for reference purposes is the folio number despite the fact that it gives the user of the reference more to search through.
Search engines will eventually be provided for the texts, though that will not happen until the all the transcriptions are done. In the meantime the PDF’s search engine (if you download the text) or that of the browser can be used, though the irregular spelling is something of a challenge. Similarly, we plan to incorporate links to the images themselves. That is also a longer term project. In the meantime, if there is a particular image that you want to see, email us. We will do our best.
Thanks are owing, in particular, to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, which is providing some of the funding that makes this project possible and which shares with us the rights in the project. The Burnham-Macmillan Endowment Fund of Western Michigan University provided us with a key grant early in the process that helped us to get going.
The following also deserve our thanks: Lynn Turner, Dan Peay, and Jeff Svare of the Utah Genealogical Society and Family Search were instrumental in getting us the digital copies of the microfilms. Professor Ryan Rowberry of the Georgia State College of Law put us in touch with the Society. The former president of the Foundation, Professor Annette Gordon-Reed, has been continually supportive. Jamie Moncrief has helped us with photographic and metadata work
Workers on the project include: Alex Bowman, Eric Dobberteen, Richard Drooyan, Anita Dymant, Tre Michael Goodhue, Nathan Grimes, Patricia Gunter, Nora Hafez, Alisa Heskin, Arthur D. Kamya, Hannah Renee Keller, Robert Olsen, Kylie Owens, Austin Setter, Joshua Douglas Simon, Jane E. Ward, Emily Yurkus. To all of these we are most grateful.
| Session |
|
Folio |
| Charlestown, 29 January 1760 |
................................................ |
1r |
| Boston, 19 February 1760 |
................................................ |
10r |
| Plimouth, 29 April 1760 | ................................................ | 32r |
| Barnstable, 6 May 1760 | ................................................ | 42r |
| Ipswich, 24 June 1760 | ................................................ | 52r |
| York, 1 July 1760 | ................................................ | 65r |
| Cambridge, 5 August 1760 | ................................................ | 79r |
| Boston, 19 August 1760 | ................................................ | 93r |
| Worcester, 16 September 1760 | ................................................ | 114r |
| Springfield, 23 September 1760 | ................................................ | 124r |
| Taunton, 15 October 1760 | ................................................ | 144r |
| Salem, 21 October 1760 | ................................................ | 154r |
| Charlestown, 27 January 1761 | ................................................ | 161r |
| Boston, 17 February 1761 | ................................................ | 166v |
| Plymouth, 12 May 1761 | ................................................ | 181v |
| Barnstable, 7 May 1761 | ................................................ | 188r |
| Ipswich, 9 June 1761 | ................................................ | 192r |
| York, 16 June 1761 | ................................................ | 198v |
| Falmouth, 23 June 1761 | ................................................ | 208r |
| Cambridge, 4 August 1761 | ................................................ | 210v |
| Boston, 18 August 1761 | ................................................ | 221r |
| Worcester, 15 September 1761 | ................................................ | 239v |
| Springfield, 22 September 1761 | ................................................ | 250r |
| Taunton, 18 October 1761 | ................................................ | 264r |
| Salem, 24 October 1761 | ................................................ | 272r |
| Charlestown, 26 January 1762 | ................................................ | 278r |
| Boston, 16 February 1762 | ................................................ | 288r |
| Plimouth, 27 April 1762 | ................................................ | 323r |
| Barnstable, 4 May 1762 | ................................................ | 330r |
| Ipswich, 8 June 1762 | ................................................ | 337r |
| York, 15 June 1762 | ................................................ | 348r |
| Falmouth, 22 June 1762 | ................................................ | 361r |
| Cambridge, 3 August 1762 | ................................................ | 369r |
| Boston, 17 August 1762 | ................................................ | 380r |
| Worcester, 21 September 1762 | ................................................ | 402r |
| Springfield, 28 September 1762 | ................................................ | 416r |
| Taunton, 12 October 1762 | ................................................ | 437r |
| Salem, 19 October 1762 | ................................................ | 452r |
MARITIME CASES 1779–1783, 1788
| Session |
|
Folio |
| Ipswich, 15 June 1779 | ................................................ | 1r |
| Boston, 31 August 1779 | ................................................ | 16r |
| Boston, 15 February 1780 | ................................................ | 26r |
| York, 27 June 1780 | ................................................ | 31r |
| Boston, 29 August 1780 | ................................................ | 32r |
| Cambridge, 14 November 1780 | ................................................ | 35r |
| Concord, 10 April 1781 | ................................................ | 38r |
| Ipswich, 18 June 1781 | ................................................ | 42r |
| Falmouth, 3 July 1781 | ................................................ | 45r |
| Boston, 28 August 1781 | ................................................ | 47r |
| Taunton, 16 October 1781 | ................................................ | 52r |
| Cambridge, 30 October 1781 | ................................................ | 52v |
| Salem, 6 November 1781 | ................................................ | 53r |
| Boston, 19 February 1782 | ................................................ | 56r |
| Barnstable, 16 May 1782 | ................................................ | 61r |
| York, 25 June 1782 | ................................................ | 62v |
| Falmouth, 2 July 1782 | ................................................ | 64r |
| Boston, 19 November 1782 | ................................................ | 66v |
| Cambridge, 10 December 1782 | ................................................ | 69r |
| Boston, 18 February 1783 | ................................................ | 71r |
| Concord, 8 April 1783 | ................................................ | 73r |
| Plymouth, 20 May 1783 | ................................................ | 76v |
| Ipswich, 17 June 1783 | ................................................ | 82v |
| Boston, 26 August 1783 | ................................................ | 84v |
| Taunton, 25 November 1783 | ................................................ | 90v |
| Concord, 13 April 1783 | ................................................ | 95v |
| Taunton, 23 October 1788 | ................................................ | 100r |
|
Charles Donahue, Jr.
|
