Colby's Books 4814 South 4180 West Kearns, Utah 84118-4014 1-801-680-1317
Records and Files Of The Quarterly Courts Of Essex County Massachusetts,
1636-1683
Product Code: US0204
Number of CDs: 1
Pub. Date: 1911-1921
ISBN: 1933828226
These volumes contain transcripts or extracts from the record books and loose
papers of all courts that operated in the area that is now Essex County,
Massachusetts, from 1636 to 1683. Nearly every person who resided for any
length of time in Essex County in this period will be found in this set.
In 1636 the Massachusetts Bay General Court established quarterly courts to
be held at several places in the colony, including Salem and Ipswich. In 1643
the General Court erected four counties in the colony: Suffolk, Middlesex,
Essex and Norfolk. Essex County included Salem and Ipswich, and the courts at
those places continued as they had since 1636. Norfolk County (not to be
confused with the county of the same name erected in 1793) comprised the
towns of Salisbury, Haverhill, Hampton, Exeter, Dover and Portsmouth.
Quarterly courts were established at Salisbury and Hampton, and continued
until 1679 when New Hampshire was established as a separate colony, Norfolk
County was dissolved, and Salisbury and Haverhill were absorbed in Essex
County. The last sitting of the Salisbury Court was on 11 November 1679.
The Quarterly Courts had jurisdiction over criminal, civil and administrative
matters, so one will find here records of prosecution forvarious crimes, of
lawsuits between private citizens, and of licenses for innkeepers. For most
courts there are lists of the presiding magistrates and for the grand and
petit juries for that court, in many cases accompanied by the grand jury
presentments for the court. These courts also held probate jurisdiction, and
many early wills, inventories and administration will be found here as well.
The main body of the text presents the information found in the record books
for each court. Material from the file papers is included in the footnotes
and, where possible, keyed to the associated entries in the record books.
Very few long-term residents of Essex County escaped mention in the court
records.
Summary by Robert Charles Anderson, FASG
This CD is fully searchable and can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat
Reader
(version 4 or later recommended) on any Windows, Macintosh, or Unix
computer. The data on this CD is completely self-contained, and
requires no
installation.
$69.95 + shipping & handling.
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