Take it to court! Finding your ancestors in court records

Today we tend to think people use courts to solve disputes more often than was true in the past. This is incorrect, however, because Americans have a long history of using courts to settle disputes. It is unlikely that your male (and many female) ancestors avoided appearing in local court records. Court day was also a major social event for our ancestors, who lived mostly in rural areas. When courts were in session, people traveled to the courthouse to see friends, socialize, trade and seek entertainment.

Abstracts and indexes of court records are less common than for other genealogical records, so it may be necessary to scan each page of minutes to find the information. At a minimum, genealogists locate dates of residence in an area. Detailed information gives insight into personalities.

Family historians find ancestors in many types of court records. First, clerks recorded lists of men chosen for jury duty. Similarly, court records include lists of men who ordered by the court to establish or maintain roads. These men lived along the road route, so researchers can determine neighbors from these orders. Depending on local court structure, probate records and guardianships/apprenticeships appear. Rarely, testimony recorded in court records reveals relationships or includes vital records. In many states, circuit courts or their equivalent granted divorces. Prior to 1906, immigrants could file for naturalization with local courts, creating additional records. Adoptions appear in the records as well. Court records also include appointments to public office by the court and issue of licenses for various businesses such as taverns or ferries.

Courts hear three types of cases -- violations of law that harm individuals, violations that can harm society and disputes between individuals. The type of case dictates the type of court that hears the case, with civil and criminal courts hearing the first two, and courts of equity or chancery hearing the latter case. In addition, some courts serve as administrative bodies. (Missouri's county courts, now county commissions, were an example.)

The most frequent type of lawsuit in civil courts was debt. Most loans in the 1800s were from wealthy individuals to those needing money for land and other uses. Default on these loans resulted in lawsuits to force sale of collateral to satisfy these debts. If the debtors owed taxes, they appeared on delinquent tax lists, often recorded in court records.

Authority of courts at a given time and place depended on the status of the jurisdiction (over time, they might be colonial, territorial or state). Courts might act at the state, county or local level. The latter might be magistrate courts, justice of the peace or other special courts. Researchers may view state-specific information on court systems using the FamilySearch Wiki: familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Court_Records.

Missouri provides a good example of a state court system. The 1820 state constitution created the Supreme Court, with authority over certain types of cases (such as divorce at the time) and being the ultimate state level of appeal. A Chancery Court, also delineated in the 1820 constitution, heard cases of equity (violation of equal treatment), but the General Assembly abolished it in 1822. Circuit courts cover multiple counties and hear violations of law and equity.

County courts were the primary administrative body for Missouri counties, and today are known as county commissions. Some counties had courts of common pleas at one time, which had jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal matters. Probate courts functioned as such at times, although other courts oversaw probate matters or acted in a probate capacity and kept separate probate minutes and records. Finally, federal courts with jurisdiction over Missouri are the U.S. Circuit and District courts. Records lie at the federal level.

Court actions resulted in varied records, depending on the type of court and state/local variations. Counties usually hold these records. First, counties may have indexed records. Possible index terms include plaintiff and defendant names (less commonly every name) or type of action. Some courts kept dockets, which summarize all court actions over time, from filing to resolution of the case. Courts often kept minutes, a summary of actions in each session (usually indices refer to minutes). Other counties kept similar records of court actions in an order book (Virginia counties being examples). Some courts kept separate books of final judgments. Of all the records maintained by a court, the most valuable are case files. These contain all documents created for the case in one file or bundle. Despite their value, abstracts or indexes of these files rarely exist.