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People

Meet the many people who argued for and against carceral, institutional, and interpersonal confinement in the petitions filed in County and District Courts throughout the American West over the long nineteenth century. Browse or search people by name, demographic characteristics, case role, and/or relationships described in each petition. Our encoding practice for people features data pulled from the available case files and in some instances additional data from supplemental sources is also included. Only people with case roles are indexed here, while all persons named in a case are listed on the case page. The Glossary defines the attributes used to structure data from the habeas petitions. The Code Book explains the relational structure of the data and functionality of the database website.

Clara Martínez holding her grandson, Robert Marron Romero. Links to Lucía Martínez's story.

Featured story: Lucía Martínez: Yaqui Arizona, 1854-1900

Basic Search

Simply enter the word you wish to find and the search engine will search for every instance of the word in the journals. For example: Fight. All instances of the use of the word fight will show up on the results page.

Wildcard Searches

Using an asterisk (*) will increase the odds of finding the results you are seeking. For example: Fight*. The search results will display every instance of fight, fights, fighting, etc. More than one wildcard may be used. For example: *ricar*. This search will return most references to the Aricara tribe, including Ricara, Ricares, Aricaris, Ricaries, Ricaree, Ricareis, and Ricarra. Using a question mark (?) instead of an asterisk (*) will allow you to search for a single character. For example, r?n will find all instances of ran and run, but will not find rain or ruin.

Capitalization

Searches are not case sensitive. For example: george will come up with the same results as George.

Phrase Search

Searching for a specific phrase may help narrow down the results. Rather long phrases are no problem. For example: "This white pudding we all esteem".

Subsequent Searches

Because of the creative spellings used by the journalists, it may be necessary to try your search multiple times. For example: P?ro*. This search brings up numerous variant spellings of the French word pirogue, "a large dugout canoe or open boat." Searching for P?*r*og?* will bring up other variant spellings. Searching for canoe or boat also may be helpful.

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5470 results

Carr, William C.

  • Birth date: April 15, 1783
  • Birth place: Virginia, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Judge, authority ordering detention

Butler, Edward Mann

  • Birth date: July 13, 1784
  • Birth place: Maryland, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Authority ordering detention

Ferguson, Peter

  • Birth date: January 26, 1788
  • Birth place: Scotland
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Authority ordering detention

Smith, Mary Logan

  • Birth date: April 8, 1792
  • Birth place: United States
  • Sex: Female
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner

Ford, Nathaniel

  • Birth date: January 22, 1795
  • Birth place: Virginia
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, holding party

Oliphant, E.P. (Ethelbert Patterson Oliphant)

  • Birth date: November 4, 1803
  • Birth place: Fayette County, Pennsylvania
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Unknown
  • Case role(s): Judge

Filley, Oliver Dwight

  • Birth date: May 23, 1806
  • Birth place: Connecticut, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Authority ordering detention

Holmes, Mary (Polly)

  • Birth date: January 1, 1810
  • Birth place: Virginia
  • Sex: Female
  • Race or ethnicity: Black

Holmes, Robert (Robin)

  • Birth date: January 1, 1810
  • Birth place: Virginia
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Black
  • Case role(s): Petitioner

Glover, Samuel Taylor

  • Birth date: March 3, 1813
  • Birth place: Kentucky, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney

Thomas, George F.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1814
  • Birth place: Virginia
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, holding party

Resser, Francis

  • Birth date: January 1, 1814
  • Birth place: France
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, responding party, holding party

Todd, John Blair Smith

  • Birth date: April 4, 1814
  • Birth place: Kentucky, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, holding party

Olney, Cyrus

  • Birth date: October 11, 1815
  • Birth place: New York
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Judge

Hardee, William Joseph

  • Birth date: October 12, 1815
  • Birth place: Georgia, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, responding party, holding party

Dorsey, Charles

  • Birth date: January 1, 1818
  • Birth place: United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Black
  • Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner

Boise, Reuben Patrick

  • Birth date: June 9, 1818
  • Birth place: Massachusetts, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Judge

Wilson, Mary

  • Birth date: January 1, 1819
  • Birth place: Unknown
  • Sex: Female
  • Race or ethnicity: Multiracial, Black
  • Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner

George, Wyatt A.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1819
  • Birth place: Indiana
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney, respondent attorney

Richardson, John Crowley

  • Birth date: March 16, 1819
  • Birth place: Kentucky, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney

Simmons, Cyrenius Canfield

  • Birth date: March 19, 1819
  • Birth place: New York, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Unknown
  • Case role(s): Authority ordering detention, petitioner attorney

Rhodes, Orrin

  • Birth date: January 1, 1820
  • Birth place: Ohio
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, holding party, responding party

Minor, Francis

  • Birth date: August 15, 1820
  • Birth place: Virginia, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney

Painter, Hattie R. (Hattie Kersey Painter)

  • Birth date: January 1, 1821
  • Birth place: Pennsylvania
  • Sex: Female
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, responding party, holding party

Kribben, Christian

  • Birth date: January 1, 1821
  • Birth place: Germany
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Unknown
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney

Reynolds, Thomas Caute

  • Birth date: October 11, 1821
  • Birth place: South Carolina, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent attorney, petitioner attorney

Sullivan, John M.

  • Birth date: May 1, 1822
  • Birth place: Ireland
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White, Irish
  • Case role(s): Respondent, responding party, holding party

Garesché, Peter Bauduy

  • Birth date: November 10, 1822
  • Birth place: Delaware, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney

Chambliss, William Parham

  • Birth date: March 20, 1823
  • Birth place: Virginia, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Responding party, holding party

Ramsby, Robinson Crusoe

  • Birth date: November 5, 1823
  • Birth place: Ohio, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Authority ordering detention

Goodhard, Elsaba (Emma Guthard)

  • Birth date: November 19, 1823
  • Birth place: Hemme, Germany
  • Sex: Female
  • Race or ethnicity: White, German
  • Case role(s): Holding party, respondent, responding party

Burnham, Horace Blois

  • Birth date: September 10, 1824
  • Birth place: New York, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent attorney

Ferry, Elisha P.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1825
  • Birth place: Monroe County, Michigan
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney, authority ordering detention

Peebles, John Cannon

  • Birth date: January 3, 1826
  • Birth place: Pennsylvania, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Unknown
  • Case role(s): Judge

Davis, Nelson

  • Birth date: January 1, 1827
  • Birth place: Tennessee
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner

Jacobs, Orange

  • Birth date: May 2, 1827
  • Birth place: New York
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Judge, authority ordering detention, chief justice

Wingard, Samuel C.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1828
  • Birth place: Pennsylvania
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Judge

Wyche, James E.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1828
  • Birth place: Mississippi
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Judge

McAuliff, James

  • Birth date: January 1, 1828
  • Birth place: Ireland
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White, Irish
  • Case role(s): Respondent, holding party, responding party

LaMaster, Milton

  • Birth date: January 1, 1828
  • Birth place: Unknown
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Unknown
  • Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner

Sharpstein, B.L. (Ben L. Sharpstein)

  • Birth date: January 1, 1828
  • Birth place: New York
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent attorney

Breckinridge, Samuel Miller

  • Birth date: November 3, 1828
  • Birth place: United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner, petitioner attorney, judge

Turley, George W.

  • Birth date: October 1, 1829
  • Birth place: Virginia, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Black
  • Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party

Burke, Patrick Emmet

  • Birth date: January 1, 1830
  • Birth place: Unknown
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Petitioner attorney

Lewis, Joseph R.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1830
  • Birth place: Ohio
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Judge, authority ordering detention

Hamilton, Leuvica O.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1830
  • Birth place: Kentucky
  • Sex: Female
  • Race or ethnicity: Unknown
  • Case role(s): Respondent, holding party

Dundy, Sr., Elmer Scipio

  • Birth date: March 5, 1830
  • Birth place: Ohio, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Unknown
  • Case role(s): Judge

Sullivan, Julia

  • Birth date: September 1, 1830
  • Birth place: Ireland
  • Sex: Female
  • Race or ethnicity: White
  • Case role(s): Respondent, holding party

Johnson, Napoleon

  • Birth date: January 1, 1831
  • Birth place: Missouri
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Black
  • Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner

Butler, Alexander S.

  • Birth date: January 1, 1831
  • Birth place: Pennsylvania, United States
  • Sex: Male
  • Race or ethnicity: Black
  • Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner
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