Facts on Local Court Records

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   Each county, in addition to having a registry of probate and of deeds, has court records. At different times there were inferior courts of common pleas, superior courts, and courts of general sessions of the peace which dealt with civil and criminal cases, equity and naturalizations. Divorces, although indexed beginning in the 1870s at the Bureau of Vital Records, are all filed at the county superior court. Some earlier ones are in legislative petitions.
The province court records to 1771 are card indexed at the New Hampshire Records and Archives. After that time, the county seat traditionally housed court records. In a few cases, card indexes to plaintiff and defendant are available to guide the search. Original county court records now at the New Hampshire Records and Archives instead of the county seat include Hillsborough to 1880, Merrimack to 1870, Rockingham 1772-1860, Strafford 1773-1850, and Sullivan to 1880. Microfilm of Grafton, Merrimack, and Strafford court record copy and docket books are at the New Hampshire State Library.
New Hampshire State Papers, volume 40, contains court records from the Dover-Portsmouth Quarterly Court, 1640-92, and there are some general court records and indexes both at the New Hampshire Records and Archives and on microfilm at the FHL for the colonial period. After statehood, the court system became established along county lines. The only court records which have been abstracted or published for the post-colonial period are abstracts of Strafford County Inferior Court records, 1773-83

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Facts on Local Probate Records

   Probate records covering the colonial period from 1636-1771, originally filed in Portsmouth and Exeter, are in the collection at the New Hampshire Records and Archives, and abstracts have been published in volumes 31-39 of the New Hampshire State Papers. Probate records for residents of towns along the Massachusetts border may be found in Massachusetts counties. For those in Rockingham County, see Essex County (Mass.) Probate Index, 1636-1840 (see Massachusetts-Probate Records).
After the formation of counties, probates were filed at county seats. All probate records, except for Coos County whose records were burned prior to 1887, are extant.
Abstracts and indexes are only the tip of the iceberg in probate records, however. Each county holds original files that include letters, affidavits, bills, receipts, original wills, and inventories. Not all material in the file was recorded in probate books. Consequently, a probate search is not complete without surveying the materials in the original files.

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Tips for General Court Records

Excerpts From the Book "Family History Made Easy"

   Even today, few people escape mention in court records at some time during their lives as witnesses, litigants, jurors, appointees to office, or as petition signatories. However, Americans of a few generations ago also expected to attend local court proceedings when they were in session.
Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D. “Research in Court Records”
In The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy

   American court files mirror U.S. history. Buried away in courthouses and archives everywhere are the dreams and frustrations of millions of citizens. The chances are great that your ancestors have left a detailed record of at least some aspects of their lives in court records.

   Most of us don’t think of court records as the rich source of personal history that they are. But America’s English heritage established a tradition of court processes in which the people have a right to participate actively—and we always have. With relative freedom from royal supervision and with court enforcement of religious as well as civil laws, American courts tried many matters that were not subject to court action in other parts of the British empire and that are now considered too minor to warrant criminal action.

   When a person dies, every state has laws that provide for public supervision over the estate that is left, whether or not there is a will. The term “probate records” broadly covers all the records produced by these laws, although, strictly speaking, “probate” applies only when there is a will.

   Family historians use probate case files far more than any other kind of court record. Probate case files are logical sources because they tend to include so much personal data, and because Americans have depended on the courts to settle their estates since North America was colonized. According to Val Greenwood in his Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, “All records which relate to the disposition of an estate after its owner’s death are referred to as probate records. These are many and varied in both content and value, but basically, they fall into two main classes: testate and intestate” (page 255). Probate case files generally provide names, addresses, and biographical data for the deceased, but frequently provide the same information for other relatives named in the papers. Relationships, maiden names of wives, married names of daughters, past residences, and place of origin in a native country are just a few of the details that can be discovered in probate files. And probate files can be found in courthouses and archives across the United States.

   When requesting probate information from the county clerk, it is important not to limit yourself by asking for a person’s “will.” The clerk will usually take you at your word and not copy other papers in the probate file that may have equally important information if there is no will.

   Even if your ancestor is not mentioned in a probate case, consider all of the other procedures which might have resulted in him or her appearing in court records:

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