These dockets cover civil and criminal cases until 1874, and divorces until 1887. Civil cases include debt and damages suits, plus assault, foreclosure, child abuse, embezzlement, fraud, etc. Criminal cases include larceny, burglary, murder, seduction, fornication, etc. In 1874 a federal act limited the jurisdiction of probate courts to certain divorce cases, probate, and guardianship matters.
Docket A consists only of divorce cases and records both the actions taken and a description of the proceedings. A typical divorce case as entered in Docket A includes a complaint filed; summons issued notifying the defendant; and the decree dissolving the marriage, allocating property and any alimony, and assigning the custody of any children.
Dockets A-1 and A-2 contain the dockets and description of proceedings in criminal and civil cases, including some divorces. Proceedings recorded include such information as the names of plaintiff and defendant; action; affidavit filed; summons of defendant; names of council, witnesses, and jurors; and judgement of judge or arbitrators, including sentence or amount of settlement.
The first half of volume A-1 contains both the docket and procedural minutes of the court from 1852 to December 1855. The first half of volume A-2 contains the docket and minutes from January 1856 to December 1858. The second half of volume A-2 constitutes a court docket for the period from December 1858 to the end of August 1860. The second half of volume A-1 contains the minutes for the same period.
The later dockets have similar, but very abbreviated, information on each case. A typical case listing will consist of dated entries such as: "complaint filed;" "defendant notified;" "case called, investigated;" and "decree made." Few particulars are included. Once a case is located, the dates recorded for each action allow the researcher to locate the more detailed information recorded in the CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASE MINUTE BOOKS.