Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1636-1656. Volume #1

By: The Essex Institute, Pub. 1911, reprinted 2026, 510 pages, Index, soft cover, ISBN #978-1-63914-696-3. Essex County was created in 1643 and lies in the Northeastern corner of the state bordering the Atlantic Ocean and New Hampshire. These County courts or Inferior quarterly courts had jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases except in cases of divorce and crimes involving life, limb or banishment. They had power to summon grand and petit jurors, to appoint their own clerks, and other necessary officers, to lay out highways, license ordinary's, to see that a proper ministry was supported, to prove Wills, grant administrations and to have general control of matters in probate. The index mentions approximately 10,000 persons or entries.