12.7 Court and Notarial Records
While wills and probate records may be filed with a court, there are other court records of genealogical value: divorce, adoption, litigation, arrests, and incarcerations may all be documented in court records. There may be family members who became wards of the government who are documented in court records. These wards may be sent to an institution for medical or mental health reasons or perhaps were orphaned or fostered through government programs.
CHICAGO STYLE:
Name of collection in quotation marks, name of individual with year and standardized place, italicized website, access date written in full month, numerical day, year, url.1
“Chancery Records: New Castle. Court Records 1786–1818,” David Lewis court record for guardianship August 1803 in New Castle, Delaware, United States, FamilySearch, January 22, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-K2FF?view=fullText&keywords=idiot&groupId=TH-909-57229-17706-62&lang=en.
EVIDENCE EXPLAINED:
Description of the record set, including case number, case, name and so on, court session, name and description of question before the court, standardized date from the record; description of database, name of the collection in quotation marks, italicized repository, (url : standardized access date).2
New Castle, Delaware, Chancery Court Records, Case of David Lewis an idiot on the petition of John Foot, August Term 1803, David Lewis Guardianship, 20 August 1803; database with images, “Chancery Records: New Castle. Court Records,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-K2FF?view=fullTextkeywords=idiotlang=en : accessed 27 February 2025).
SENSIBLE CITATION:
Collection name in quotations marks, individual and description of item with standardized date and standardized place, describe the database, add identifying information, italicized website, standardized access date. Embed the url from the person’s name to the end of the standardized place.
“Chancery Records: New Castle. Court Records 1786–1818,” David Lewis court record for guardianship August 1803 in New Castle, Delaware, United States, online database with images, IGN 007834273, image 511 of 675, FamilySearch, accessed 22 January 2025.
Notarized documents are another type of record tied to the government and sometimes found with legal documents. There may be collections of notarized documents tied to certain jurisdictions. In the United States, notarized documents will probably be at the state or county level, but the FamilySearch Wiki or FamilySearch Catalog can point to notarial collections for other countries. There are areas where notarial records play an especially important role in genealogical research. FamilySearch has a full-text search experiment that includes notarial documents from different places and gives researchers access to records that have not been accessible or practical to use for research in the past.
Translation apps like google translate can help researchers “read” documents in other languages. These apps are surprisingly effective in identifying names even when the handwriting is stylized as in Figure 12.3.
CHICAGO STYLE:
Name of collection in quotation marks, name of individual with year and standardized place, italicized website, access date written in full month, numerical day, year, url.3
“Puebla, Puebla, Mexico records: Puebla. Notarial Records 1604,” Debt taken on by Francisco Alvarez and guaranteed by Jimenez Arcabuzero during 1604 in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico, FamilySearch, accessed February 13, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSDX-V99J-1?view=explore&keywords=M%C3%A9xico&lang=en&groupId=TH-909-65238-28126-81.
EVIDENCE EXPLAINED:
Description of the record set, identifying information from the record, standardized date from the record; description of database, name of the collection in quotation marks, italicized repository, (url : standardized access date).4
Puebla, Pubela, Mexico Notarial Records, debt record between Francisco Alavrez and Jimenez Arcabuzero, database with images, “Puebla, Puebla, Mexico records: Puebla. Notarial Records 1604,” FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSDX-V99J-1?view=explorekeywords=M%C3%A9xicolang=engroupId=TH-909-65238-28126-81 : accessed on 13 February 2025) >Notarial records IGN 007978433 > image 254 of 559.
SENSIBLE CITATION:
Collection name in quotations marks, individual and description of item with standardized date and standardized place, describe the database, add identifying information, italicized website, standardized access date. Embed the url from the person’s name to the end of the standardized place.
“Puebla, Puebla, Mexico records: Puebla. Notarial Records 1604,” Debt taken on by Francisco Alvarez and guaranteed by Jimenez Arcabuzero during 1604 in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico, database with images, IGN 007978433, image 254 of 559, FamilySearch, accessed 13 February 2025.