Connecticut Courts: Divorces in Superior Court Record Books 1716-1798

Connecticut’s Superior Court was created in 1711. It was the second level of the court system, sitting above the county and probate courts, but below the final court of appeal, which up until 1785 was the General Assembly and afterward was the Supreme Court of Errors.

The early Superior Court was an itinerant or circuit court, meaning that instead of having separate sitting courts for each county, the four judges, as well as the clerks and other officers, traveled from county to county holding sessions in each several times per year.  Many famous names of Connecticut history were judges of the Superior Court, including Roger Sherman, Jonathan Trumbull, Eliphalet Dyer, William Pitkin, Jonathan Law, Oliver Ellsworth, and others.

This index of divorces is from the early Superior Court’s 31 volumes of record books, which were the official record of the court kept by the clerk. The record books run from the establishment of the court in 1711 to 1798, the first divorce is recorded in 1716.

In this time period, divorces were either granted by the General Assembly or by the Superior Court. Someone wishing to be divorced from their spouse would have to submit a petition to the court.

Divorce laws were very strict, usually permitting a petitioner to divorce their spouse only in very clear-cut cases of desertion, adultery, or deformity. Staunchly Puritan courts in the early part of the eighteenth century were very hesitant to grant divorces, but as the century wore on and divorce laws loosened up somewhat, they did so with much greater frequency. This process accelerated after independence from Great Britain; the majority of the 1,080 records in this index are from 1776 and after.

Divorce case records usually contain the husband and wife’s names, their marriage date, the town of the petitioner, and reasons why the petitioner is asking for the divorce. Due to the formal, legalistic way record entries were written, maiden names were usually not part of the record unless the husband was the one making the petition. This unfortunately means that maiden names were rarely recorded, as the vast majority of petitioners were female. Children were almost never mentioned.

In 1801, the General Assembly added two judges to the overburdened Superior Court and split it into two circuits of four counties each. All record books from 1798 forward are arranged by their respective counties, which is why this index ends with that year.

Please note that there are many direct quotes from the records books in the “notes” field and elsewhere. The index therefore includes terms that are considered archaic, offensive, and inappropriate to use in modern times.

Most, though not all, of these records have corresponding case files that may have more information. To find those, either consult <a href="https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/hg/divorce/indexes">county-specific indexes</a> or ask the History & Genealogy Unit staff for assistance.

To request a copy of a record, please contact the staff of the <a href="https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/hg/home">History & Genealogy Unit</a> by telephone at (860) 757-6580 or through our <a href="https://portal.ct.gov/csl/email-us?language=en_US">email form</a>.  When requesting a copy of a record, please include the names of the individuals as well as the volume and page number. You are also more than welcome to visit the Connecticut State Library to see the record books for yourself!

Several volumes have extra, non-numbered pages at the end; these are denoted by a typographical mark and the word “misc.”

*The February, 1769 term of the Superior Court in Fairfield is filed in a folder in the state archives RG 003, Superior Court Fairfield County Records/Dockets, Box 51.

**Volume 19 contains miscellaneous papers at the end of the numbered pages. These papers are mostly in chronological order, and include court files, invoices, and the records of a few Superior Court terms.

†Volume 21 contains miscellaneous papers