SEARCHING THE COLONIAL CONNECTICUT RECORDS

By Sandra Raymond Jarvis

Background

The Colonial Connecticut Records are a wonderful source for discovering the lives of our early American patriots. It covers a time period denoted in the following time line:
1636 - The Massachusetts Council granted temporary commissions to four companies about to settle Connecticut.
1636 - Hartford, Conn., was settled by a company under the Rev. Thomas Hooker
1638 - Captain John Mason was appointed Major-General of the Connecticut forces.
1638 - First Sunday spent at New Haven by the newly arrived Colonists.
1639 - Connecticut adopted a Constitution of its own, the first Colonial Constitution framed by Americans.
1647 - Date of the New Haven Compact between Governor Eaton and Rev. John Davenport.
1662 - Royal Charter granted to the Patentees of Connecticut by Charles II.
1676 - The Connecticut troops under Major Treat arrived at Narragansett for the second campaign against King Philip.
1676 - The Connecticut Forces returned home after the "Great Swamp Fight."
1687 - The Charter of Connecticut was concealed in the Oak tree, to save it from surrender to the Royal Governor, Andros.
1764 - The boundary line between New York and Connecticut was settled by Royal order in Privy Council.

Source: A Year Book of Colonial Times Compiled by the Rev. Frederick S. Sill, D.D. Member of the Society of Colonial Wars, E. P. Dutton & Company, New York, 1899

The following maps show the location of the Connecticut Colony.

 

The Colonial Connecticut Records evolved from the original Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut which was the set of proceedings from the governing body of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636 - 1776. It included the “Charter of Connecticut,” “The Code of Laws (1650),” and “The Record of Wills and Inventories (1640-1649).”
The CCR contains the historical, social, economic, political and cultural information of the colony of Connecticut. Users can find such information as who became freemen and when, what types of punishments and fines were administered in 17th century Connecticut, what decisions were made about treatment of the Indians and why, and what was happening in Connecticut at the beginning of the American Revolution. The Records are of genealogical significance in that one can follow the names of one’s ancestors through time and discover what their ancestors were doing at a particular time and where they resided.
In 1850, the compilation of these records, in accordance with a resolution of the General Assembly by Brown & Parsons and under the direction of J Hammond Trumbull, began. Ending in 1890, the work contained 15 volumes.
Previously to being digitized, the CCR was available in book form and on microfilm. The 15 volumes are still located at various sites throughout the United States. The SLFHL has the set on microfilm. The Public Library of Connecticut also has a set, although a search of their internet catalog only lists the digital version. The University of Connecticut has the Records in book form and on microfilm. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons for making the CCR available on the internet was that the students were required to study the volumes. Several his students came to David F. Avery, who later became CCR Project Manager, with concerns about the accessibility of the volumes.
The Public Records would disappear for months at a time and then mysteriously appear back on the shelf. They could not be taken out of the library and they were not stolen. Users were squirreling them away so they could have access when ever they needed them. Making the information accessible only when the volumes were on the shelf.
Avery determined to do something about the availability of the Records. A chance meeting with Kevin McBride of Pequot Museum and Research Center back in 1999 revealed the support the Museum was willing to provide. Avery was on his way. Staff from ITS, RIS, Dodd Research Center, and the Digital Collections Planning team, all of the University of Connecticut Libraries, coordinated with members of the Museum to produce a quality website capable of easy searching. After scanning specifications were made, the work of actual scanning of the microfilm began. It is interesting to note that because of the use of modern technology to enhance digital photos, the new images are better than the original film images!

 

Here is a photocopy of a filmed image of Volume One, Page Two:

Here is a digital copy of the same page only gleaned from the internet:


The new website is capable of searching each of the 15 volumes by surname. Steve Wieda, the Library’s webmaster, designed an access database capable of searching by the subject headings found in each of the 15 indices as well as searching by surname. In addition, a patron could search by typing in a page number and going directly to the intended image. Then the patron could go forward or back from that page.
To summarize – the pages of the Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut were scanned and saved in TIFF format. An access database was created and populated with the subject headings found in each of the 15 vols. The user can browse through the subject headings, click on a page number and be delivered to the corresponding image of the page.

The Colonial Connecticut Records 1636-1776

This is what the Home screen looks like.

Clicking the “Browse A-Z Index” will take one to the alphabetical listing of surnames and topics. “Search the Records” searches the Records by page. As an added bonus this page also has a search by date feature. Colonial Pathways lists the searches by subjects such as charters, documents and inventories. Learning how the Project came about can be found under “About the Project.”
Clicking on the A-Z link takes one to the list of Volumes.

Once the volume to be searched has been chosen, the Alphabetical Listing page appears. Remember the surnames and topics are listed together.

Clicking on Avery, James brings up his Index entry with the page numbers hyperlinked to the subsequent pages.

Making A Search of Many Names

The Colonial Connecticut Records are an exciting source for students and researchers alike. Having the CCR on the internet makes it so much more available than earlier use of books and films. Upon using the site, another benefit was discovered. One can perform “mega-searches” with the added help of database such as Excel.
First, generate a list (in PAF, use advanced focus/filter) of all ancestors living in Connecticut during this time period of 1636-1776. Put in database the fields of Name, RIN, and birth date. This creates a narrow database that can be placed to the side of the website on one’s computer screen. Save the list as an .rtf extension. While in the word processing file just created, change the text to table and save as an Excel file.
Next, look up the page numbers of the individuals and record them on the Excel list. There are two ways to look for the page numbers for the names of the ancestors. Use both ways as some page numbers will be found in the back of each volume while others will be found via the digital alphabetical search. The index for volume one starts on page 615. After looking up the names of the ancestors in this index and recording the pages on Excel, do a digital surname search for each ancestor and record the pages found there.



Now the searches begin. With the Excel list in sight next to the CCR website, find, in the CCR site, the first name of the Excel list. As each page is reviewed, in the Excel file, make a mark such as a * on each page searched. The excel file is how one keeps track of the names and pages searched.
Once a page is found, determine if it is one that should be kept. There are two ways to keep the pages. One may save it to a folder or one may print it. Doing both is recommended.
The printing option of the Colonial Connecticut Records Site is not a good way to print the page. Instead, click on “Download a 300 dpi TIFF of this page.”



The image will appear on one’s default image viewer such as Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Print from this program. This is also where one should save the image to a designated folder.
Continue repeating this process until all the ancestors have been searched. This method provides an excellent way for one to study the names of ones ancestors not only to determine where and what they were doing, but also to view how they may have inter-related with each other.
Colonial Connecticut Records brings the colonial history of Connecticut to life. This information becomes more accessible to users worldwide by the online delivery of the complete, digitized volumes of the Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1776. Making the texts available online delivers to worldwide users historical Connecticut information regardless of space and time. The CCR is available at www.colonialct.uconn.edu/default.cfm

---

BIBLIOGRAPHIES

About.com. Colonial Connecticut. Colonial Ancestors, 2000-2007 http://hartford.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=hartford&cdn=citiestowns&tm=3&gps=280_253_1020_617&f=00&tt=14&bt=0&bts=1&zu=http%3A//colonialancestors.com/ct/connecticut.htm

About.com. Connecticut Life in the 1770’s. The Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society. http://hartford.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=hartford&cdn=citiestowns&tm=725&gps=140_8_1020_617&f=00&su=p284.8.150.ip_&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//noahwebsterhouse.org/lifein1770.html

Avery, David, Project Manager. Colonial Connecticut Records 1936-1776. http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu/default.cfm

Avery, David, Project Manager. Colonial Connecticut Records The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1776. (a Powerpoint Presentation) Oct 23, 2001 http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu/ccr102301_files/frame.htm

History of the USA. Connecticut. www.usahistory.info/New-england/Connecticut.html

“Interesting Old Documents. Something About The Colonial Records of Connecticut,” New York Times. Dec 13, 1889. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04EEDF1E30E633A25750C1A9649D94689FD7CF

Wikipedia. Connecticut Colony. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Colony