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Ancestors Hidden in the Statutes:
Easy Ways to Find Ancestors By Name and
Laws Affecting the Records They Leave
Tips on using local, state and Federal statutes (laws) and where to find the information. Case studies demonstrate use of all three levels of statutes or codes and the information they may provide about your ancestors.
The information below is from the handout for this lefture and is periodically updated as new links to historical statutes are found. The links were last tested in May 2006. If broken links are found (probably due to a web site being moved or reorganized) the new URLs may be found by going to Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute and checking for updated links.
If you know of links not shown here please let us know and we will update the table.
Useful links for statutes and historical legal information:
-
http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html -
Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute links to Constitutions, Statutes and Codes
- Primarily geared to current legislative acts but may find historical info on some state sites also
- Links to law and state university libraries often have historical research guides and links to other pages
- State pages often have links to county and city or town pages
-
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm -
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School; Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (122BC to present, World wide docs)
- Code of Hammurabi
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- Capitulary of Charlemagne Issued in the Year 802
- Charters for New World Colonies
- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html - U.S. Library of Congress, American Memory Project: A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation (1774- 1875)
- http://www.findlaw.com/ - Findlaw - 1893-present archive of Supreme Court cases
- http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/rare/index.html - Tarlton Law Library Rare Books and Special Collections - Excellent guide to online legal history sources on the Internet and archival collections.
Cautions and Notes
Some of the historical statutes were scanned then Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software was used to translate the images back to text to be used in the search engines. OCR often misinterprets characters, especially from old printed or typed documents. So often a search will NOT find a word that you can clearly see in an image of the document. If a search engine allows wildcards use them freely and you will have a better chance of finding desired items.
URLs shown below are split across mutliple lines but must be entered without spaces or breaks when typed directly. Clicking on the links should work if the site is accessible and has not moved.
| STATE |
MODERN STATUTES (URLs valid as of May 2006) If broken links are found (probably due to a web site being moved or reorganized) the new URLs may be found by going to Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute and checking for updated links by clicking on the state name then clicking on "Statutes". |
HISTORICAL STATUTES and PRINT REFERENCES |
|
The American State Papers - Records for Multiple States |
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ amlaw/lwsp.html American State Papers, Documents, Legislative, and Executive of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington: Gales & Seaton, 1832-1861. 1994; rpt., Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press. McMullen, Phillip W. Grassroots of America: A Computerized Index to the American State Papers: Land Grants and Claims 1789-1837 with Other Aids to Research. Salt Lake City, Utah: Gendex Corp., 1972. | |
|
The Territorial Papers of the United States - Records for Multiple States |
http://www.censustrail.com/
has started an extraction of names in the papers prior to 1825 U.S. Dept. of State, Clarence Edwin Carter, compiler and editor. The Territorial Papers of the United States. Washington: Gov. Printing Office, 1934-1962. 26 vols. NARA microfilm M721. | |
| Confederate State of America Statutes | http://docsouth.unc.edu/ imls/19conf/menu.html | |
| Alabama (1975) | http://www.legislature.state.al.us/ CodeofAlabama/1975/coatoc.htm | Alabama Legislative Acts and Journals (1818-1828) - http://www.legislature.state.al.us/ misc/history/timeline.html |
| Alaska (1981-2006) | http://www.legis.state.ak.us/ folhome.htm | |
| Arizona (1995-2006) | http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ ArizonaRevisedStatutes.asp | |
| Arkansas | http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ NXT/gateway.dll ?f=templates&fn=default.htm &vid=blr:code | |
| California (1993-2003) | http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html | |
| Colorado | http://198.187.128.12/ colorado/lpext.dll ?f=templates&fn=fs-main.htm&2.0 (requires Java) | |
| Connecticut (2006) | http://www.cga.ct.gov/lco/ Statute_Web_Site_LCO.htm | |
| Delaware (2006) | http://www.delcode.state.de.us/ | http://www.delcode.state.de.us/ (current code but with reference numbers to historical codes) |
| D.C. (2006) | http://government.westlaw.com/ linkedslice/default.asp?SP=DCC-1000 (requires pop-ups) | |
| Florida (1997-2005) | http://www.leg.state.fl.us/ statutes/index.cfm ?Mode=ViewStatutes&Submenu=1 | Florida (1822-1845) - http://palmm.fcla.edu/law/ |
| Georgia (2005) | http://www.legis.state.ga.us/ cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl ?code=1-1-1 |
Georgia -
http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/ ssp/cgi-bin/ftaccess.cgi ?_id=7f000001&dbs=ZLGL
Watkins, Robert and George Watkins. A Digest of the laws of the state of Georgia: from Its Establishment as a British Province Down to the Year 1798, Inclusive, and the Principal Acts of 1799; Also the Constitution of 1798; Together with the Titles of All the Obsolete and Other Cts. Philadelphia: R. Aitken, 1800. |
| Hawaii (2000-2005) | http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/ site1/docs/docs.asp?press1=docs | |
| Idaho | http://www3.state.id.us/ idstat/TOC/idstTOC.html | |
| Illinois | http://www.ilga.gov/ legislation/ilcs/ilcs.asp | |
| Indiana (1997-2005) | http://www.state.in.us/ legislative/ic/code/ | |
| Iowa (1995-2005) | http://www2.legis.state.ia.us/ IowaLaw.html | |
| Kansas | http://www.kslegislature.org/ legsrv-statutes/index.do | |
| Kentucky (1986-2006) | http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/ statrev/frontpg.htm | |
| Louisiana | http://www.legis.state.la.us/ lss/search.htm |
http://www.loc.gov/law/ guide/us-la.html LOC Laws of Louisiana Daninow, Joseph, ed. Compiled Edition of the Civil Codes of Louisiana. 2 vols. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1973 |
| Maine | http://janus.state.me.us/ legis/statutes/ | |
| Maryland | http://mlis.state.md.us/ cgi-win/web_statutes.exe | Maryland, Archives of, Legislative Records (1634-2005 but recent years link to General Assembly web site)- http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/ then click "Archives of Maryland Online" then click "Legislative Records" |
| Massachusetts | http://www.mass.gov/ legis/laws/mgl/index.htm | http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ arc/arccol/colmac.htm - Massachusetts Archives COllecion: records, 1629-1799 |
| Michigan (1995-2000) |
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/ (11cd1v553dvaph55320u5n45)/ mileg.aspx?page=chapterindex http://archive.legislature.mi.gov/ | NW Territory and Mich. Constitutions of 1835, 1850, 1908 http://www.legislature.mi.gov/ (11cd1v553dvaph55320u5n45)/ mileg.aspx?page=historicaldocuments |
| Minnesota (1945-2004) | http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/ | http://www.leg.state.mn.us/ leg/statutes.asp |
| Mississippi (1997-2006) |
http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us// http://www.mscode.com/ free/statutes/toc.htm (1972-2006) http://library.law.olemiss.edu/ library/state/ms.shtml(links from Ole Miss Law School) | http://library.mssc.state.ms.us/ MSCodes1799-1839.htm (Not the actual statutes but the history of the codes is given here) |
| Missouri | http://www.moga.mo.gov/ statutesearch/ | Missouri Territorial Legislature. Memorial and Resolutions of the Legislature of the Missouri Territory (1815-1819), 2 vols. Washington: n.p., 1819. |
| Montana | http://data.opi.state.mt.us/ bills/mca_toc/index.htm | http://www.umt.edu/ law/library/ then click on "Montana Territorial Laws Digitized" (1864-1869 Territorial Laws, 1995-2003 codes, more) |
| Nebraska | http://srvwww.unicam.state.ne.us/ Laws2005.html | |
| Nevada (1999-2005) |
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/ NRS/index.cfm http://www.leg.state.nv.us/ law1.cfm | |
| New Hampshire | http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ rsa/html/indexes/default.html | |
| New Jersey | http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/ | |
| New Mexico | http://www.conwaygreene.com/ NewMexico.htm - click Databases then NM Statutes | |
| New York | http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/ menugetf.cgi?COMMONQUERY=LAWS | |
| North Carolina | http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/ gascripts/Statutes/Statutes.asp | |
| North Dakota (1997-2005) | http://www.legis.nd.gov/ information/statutes/cent-code.html | |
| Ohio | http://onlinedocs.andersonpublishing.com/ oh/lpExt.dll?f=templates &fn=main-h.htm&cp=PORC | |
| Oklahoma (1997-1999) | http://oklegal.onenet.net/ statutes.basic.html | |
| Oregon | http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/ | http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/exhibits/1857/index.htm |
| Pennsylvania |
No state site found Penn State: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/socialsciences/legal/st_stat.htm Unofficial but is linked from Penn State: http://members.aol.com/ StatutesPA/Index.html |
Cushing, John D. The First Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
1782; rtp., Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1984.
Purdon's Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated. Laws of the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania Passed at the Session of [YEAR]. (Publishers vary with years.) |
| Rhode Island | http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/ Statutes/Statutes.html | |
| South Carolina (1976-2005) | http://www.scstatehouse.net/ coderegs/statmast.htm | |
| South Dakota | http://legis.state.sd.us/ statutes/index.aspx | |
| Tennessee | http://198.187.128.12/tennessee/ lpext.dll?f=templates &fn=fs-main.htm&2.0 | |
| Texas | http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ statutes/statutes.html |
Texas, Gammel's Laws of - http://texinfo.library.unt.edu/ lawsoftexas/default.htm Texas Reports, Supreme Court Decisions, 1846-__ Search on Portal to Texas History |
| Utah | http://www.le.state.ut.us/ ~code/code.htm | Utah (1847-1888) - http://www.lib.utah.edu/ digital/UtahHistoricalStatutes/ |
| Vermont | http://198.187.128.12/vermont/ lpext.dll?f=templates &fn=fs-main.htm&2.0 | |
| Virginia | http://leg1.state.va.us/ 000/src.htm |
Virginia, Laws regarding tithables - http://www.lva.lib.va.us/ whatwehave/tax/index.htm (links to research notes) Hening, William Waller. The Statutes at Large, Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia From the First Session of the Legislature in the year 1619: Published Pursuant to an act of the General Assembly passed on the fifth day of February, [1808]. 1810-1823; rpt, Charlottesveille: Univ. of Virginia Press, 1969). [Also available on CD from Willow Bend Books.] Phillips, John T., II. The Historian's Guide to Loudon County, Virginia, vol. 1, Colonial Laws of Virginia and County Court Orders, 1757-1766. Leesburg, VA: Goose Creek Productions, 1996. [Useful for all Virginia areas.] |
| Washington | http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/ | |
| Wisconsin (1969-2004) | http://www.legis.state.wi.us/ rsb/stats.html | http://www.legis.state.wi.us/ rsb/wislawarc.htm |
| West Virginia | http://www.legis.state.wv.us/ WVCODE/masterfrm3Banner.cfm | |
| Wyoming | http://legisweb.state.wy.us/ statutes/statutes.htm |
http://198.187.128.12/ - is the LexisNexis web site that many states use to make their current statutes available.
http://www.commonlaw.com/ - is a Web site with information on law and philosophy - it includes the Lawsof the Cherokee Nation among its eclectic mix
General References:
Blackstone, Sir William. Commentaries on the Laws of England. 4 vols. Also a 5 vol. edition with notes on American law. 1803; rpt. South Hackensack, NJ: Rothman Reprints, Inc, 1969.
Friedman, Lawrence M. A History of American Law. 3d ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Garner, Bryan A. Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed. St Paul, MN: Thompson/West, 2004. [4th ed. recommended as best for genealogists when can find used version. Earlier editions now available on CD from Archive CD Books.]
Hoffer, Peter Charles. Law and People in Colonial America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1992.
Morris, Richard B. Studies in the History of America Law With Special References to the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. 2d ed. New York: Octagon Books, 1974.
North, S. N. D., compiler. Marriage Laws in the United State 1887-1906. Conway, Arkansas, Arkansas Research, 1993.
Salmon, Marylynn. Women and the Law of Property in Early America. Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1986.
Shammas, Carole, Marylynn Salmon and Michel Dahlin. Inheritance in America: From Colonial Times to the Present. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1987.