LOOKING FOR FAMILY RECORDS?? HERE'S SOME IDEA'S...

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.

· Immigration & Naturalization Records from All States

· SEARCH ONLINE COURT RECORDS

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: FOR DEFINITIONS OF ALL COURT TERMS SEE THE GENEALOGY ENCYCLOPEDIA

· Admiralty courts (concerning events that took place at sea, on lakes, etc.)

· Adoptions

· Affidavits

· Apprenticeships

· Bankruptcies

· Bonds

· Chancery

· Civil cases

· Civil War claims

· Claims

· Complaints

· Court opinions

· Criminal

· Decrees

· Declarations

· Defendant

· Depositions

· Divorce

· Dockets

· Guardianship

· Judgments

· Jury records

· Land disputes

· Marshals’ records

· Military

· Minutes

· Naturalization records

· Notices

· Orders

· Orphan records

· Petitions

· Plaintiff

· Printed court records

· Probate

· Receipts

· Slave and Slave owners

· Subpoenas

· Summons

· Testimony

· Transcripts

· Witnesses