Pennsylvania State Archives Collection

Images of various documents filed with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, including petitions, transcripts, maps of streets and land tracts, copies of opinions, affidavits, wills, charges of the court, and the Orphan's Court Rules for Northampton County in 1842. Of interest may be a writ of error from the United States Supreme Court authorized by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in the 1860 case of The Pennsylvania Railroad Company v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and papers concerning the case of Charles Fatman v. Armstrong County, Pennsylvania (1862). Also included is a series previously titled Reports, 1814-1885, which contains reports of Auditors, Examiners and Masters. Disclaimer: Not all records in this collection are digitized. Please visit the PA State Archives to see the rest of the collection.

Images of cases heard and adjudged in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania against citizens accused of high treason. The cases involve claims made against the real and personal estates of the accused. Information given includes names of plaintiff, defendant, claimant, witnesses, and attorneys; amount of claim or debt; and date defendant acquired debt or property. Defendants include Oswald Eve, Joseph Galloway, and others. This type of legal action grew out of Chapter 784 of an Act of Assembly passes March 6, 1778, entitled "An Act for the Attainder of Divers Traitors if They Render Not Themselves by a Certain Day, and for Vesting Their Estates in this Commonwealth, and for more Effectually Discovering the Same and for Ascertaining and Satisfying the Lawful Debts and Claims Thereupon." A supplement was passed March 29, 1779, as Chapter 832. Other chapters relating to divesting forfeited estates include Chapters 818, 829, and 854.

Images of reports of inquisitions conducted by a County Coroner and a twelve man panel who had viewed a body attesting to the cause of death. These inquests determined the need for criminal prosecutions, and were used as the basis for conviction at the grand jury inquest if needed. Information provided includes name of decedent; date and cause of death; date of inquest; and county in which it took place. Causes of death listed include criminal acts (assault, murder); medical problems (poison, drinking water, apoplexy, flu, burns, fits, palsey, opium overdoses, and suffocation); and accidents (drowning, being hit by falling trees and logs, sleepwalking out a window, falling from buildings, horses, ladders, and chairs, or into wells, and being run over by wagons or horses, or both). Other causes listed are suicide, natural causes, and "upon the visitation of God." Places where inquests were conducted include Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Delaware, Northampton, and Northumberland Counties, and Philadelphia. Other documents sometimes included with the inquisitions are Sheriff's Inquests and Grand Jury Inquests for Oyer and Terminer in Bucks County, death verifications, and witness depositions. Disclaimer: The Pennsylvania State Archives provides digital access to a wide variety of historical documents, some of which may be considered offensive by current standards. The Archives does not endorse views expressed in these historical collections, but presents these collections to aid in scholarly research.

Images of declarations made before the governor or deputy governor in pursuance to "an Act made in September et octavo William III Regis Entitled An Act for Preventing Frauds and Regulating Abuses in the Plantation Trade." Information provided is date of declaration, name and signature of the person making the declaration, name of vessel, name of ship master, type of vessel, tonnage of vessel, where and when vessel was constructed, name of current owner, and declaration that "no foreigner directly or indirectly hath any share or part of interest therein."

Images of certificates, lists of voters, precepts, returns, warrants and writs concerning elections held and results of elections held throughout Pennsylvania from 1776-1790. All papers are signed and dated, bearing official seals and containing strict instruction as to the proper methods of carrying out procedure. The documents are a representation of the process of elections in this period, who authorized the elections, who was given power to run elections, and how votes were tallied and results relayed to state government. Types of documents present in this record include, lists of voters in each county from separate polling places throughout the county, certificates certifying that returns submitted to state government were originals, who the pool of voters was comprised of and which office was in question, precepts sent from an official of the county to authorize and command an election of a named vacated office, announce candidates and set the date and time of election, indentures that were agreements of men to assist judges and officers in general elections and to bear witness to the legal election of named candidates, writs of mandated direction from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to county officials to announce the resignation of an office, a commandment and authorization for elections to elect a new official (details to be decided by county officials according to official government), orders for returns of person(s) chosen and elected to go to the President of the Supreme Executive Council, petitions sent by county members to the Council to remove incompetent office holders and replace them, warrants from County officials ordering elections to be held at an agreed time, place and date, giving authority to a particular official to issue public notice of the election and to be the governing authority, and charts of election results giving data in statistical format or written out.

Images of a record of the correspondence of the short-lived Provincial Convention, from July 24, 1776 through September 28, 1776. Though its primary purpose was to draft and adopt a new state constitution in Philadelphia, it also dealt with governmental issues in its extra-legal status. Found in this record are extracted minutes from meetings, resolves concerning troops raised, letters and petitions concerning soldiers pay in which the Convention referred them to the Council of Safety, letters from the Convention asking troops to defend the Pennsylvania frontier and a petition from Delaware and Upper Smithfield Townships asking the Convention for aid in fighting an Indian War.

Images of executive correspondence to and from the Second Council of Safety from October 17, 1777 through December 4, 1777. File contains letters from the Council to military leaders such as William Bradford and George Washington, as well as active revolutionary figures like Robert Morris, and the Board of War. Also included is a summons to appear before the council, a warrant to impress wagons, an order for an arrest, and orders to county commissioners to collect blankets and supplies.

Images of a collection of the correspondence of and to the Committee of Safety, which also includes the petitions sent by various civilians and soldiers. This information covers a period from July 7, 1775-July 24, 1776 and undated. Types of documents found in this collection include letters sent to or from various members of the Committee, letters to the Council from various suppliers of boats, food and munitions, resolutions or extracts of minutes from Committee of Safety meetings, orders for civilians to appear before the Committee, lists and appointments of officers, lists of men taken prisoner and enemy prisoners of war, a copy of Congressional minutes directly affecting the Committee of Safety in Pennsylvania, oaths not to bear arms against the United States, oaths and pledges to deliver supplies, plans and drawings for stopping and obstructing enemy navigation on the Delaware River Channel and a list of articles for armed boats. Petitions to the Committee were usually posed by private citizens, and always signed by at least one petitioner. These petitions dealt with issues such as reimbursement for supplies used or services done, pleas for higher wages, money and supplies to families in need, and requests for discharges or leave due to illness.

Images of a record of estates forfeited by citizens of various counties of Pennsylvania because of their allegiance to the British crown during the Revolutionary War. Records specify the date of receipt, letter, order or notice, the area of land in question, and the county in which it was contained. Records also usually show the name and residence of the attainted individual and occasionally his occupation. Also mentioned is the detailed descriptions or drawings of boundaries of the property, an inventory of the property seized (with the date), and a record of the estates disbursement. In cases of land sales, there is a record of who bought and sold the land, agents involved and appointment of land appraisers to deal with estates forfeited by men under verdict of the Council. Also included are petitions by citizens who were unjustly accused of treason and like offenses or in danger of losing their land to the state, and letters and drawings from agents of confiscated estates reporting forfeited lands that were resurveyed.

Images of records of criminal cases heard and adjudged in Allegheny, Bedford, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lancaster, Luzerne, Lycoming, Montgomery, Northampton, Northumberland, Philadelphia, Washington, Westmoreland, and York Counties. Information provided includes dates of sessions; names of defendant, witnesses, judges, sheriff, grand jurors and petite jurors involved; nature of crime committed (ranging from misdemeanors to high treason, and including crimes related to Blacks); the verdict; and the sentence. The prosecution may have been either the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or the United States ("Republica").