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Litchfield County African Americans and Native Americans Collection

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Background
The Litchfield County African Americans and Native Americans Collection is an artificial collection composed of photocopies of court cases identified in the records of the Litchfield County, County Court, Files, 1751-1854 in which an African American or Native American appears. The African American(s) or Native American(s) can be the plaintiff, defendant, subject, or an individual mentioned in a lawsuit.

Scope and Content
The database currently holds records of 165 cases involving African Americans between the years 1753 and 1854 and 22 cases involving Native Americans between the years 1765 and 1852. The database provides access to copies of original documents and the cases involving African Americans and Native Americans cover a wide variety of subjects from debt and fraudulent contract to assault and battery and theft.

Database Information
The database contains the following information: surname and first name of African American or Native American, if known, place of residence, date of court session, case name, and subject.

    Abbreviations of Court Names:

    Date of Court Sessions:

        Courts generally met three times per year in February, June, and November. There were occasional
        exceptions for special court sessions. By the early nineteenth century, the months changed to March,
        June, and December.

        Dates are given in the format "ccyy mmm". Examples: 1763 Feb, 1763 Jun, 1763 Nov    

Search the database:

Court Name

Last Name 1

Date

Last Name 2

Place

Subject

Search assumes "OR". If you put criteria in multiple boxes, the search will use the set of results that includes the records that meet the criteria from any of the boxes  (e.g., Last Name 1 = Smith and Date = 1763 Nov will yield all records that meet either criteria - having Smith in the Last Name 1 field or having the specified date).