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.
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.
Filter by:
Race or Ethnicity
- White 5
- Black 2
- Indigenous 2
- Asian 1
- Unknown 1
Birth Place
- Iowa 3
- United States 2
- Alaska 1
- China 1
- Mississippi 1
- Nebraska 1
- New Mexico 1
- Texas 1
- Unknown 1
- Washington Territory 1
Age Category
- Adult 5
- Minor 4
- Unindicated 1
Cases
- Charles Sitzman vs. L. C. Oberlies, A. E. Allyn, Catherine Worley, as the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions of the State of Nebraska and Doctor S. J. Stewart, Superintendent Institution for Feeble Minded Youth 1
- In re application for George W. Hahne and Elsie M. Hahne for writ of Habeas Corpus vs. Fred E. Sawtell and Mary A. Sawtell 1
- In Re the Petition of Juan Rey Abeita for a Writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of Agnes Smith for a writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the Matter of the Application of Alice McKay for a Writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the Matter of the Application of Alice McKay for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for the Body of Mary McKay Her Infant Daughter 1
- In the Matter of the Application of George Hall, W. M. Thompson, and John Phillips for Writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of George Taylor for writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of Samuel Jackson for a writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the Matter of the Application of W. M. McPhay for Writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of William Giles for a writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the Matter of the Application of Wu Kao (Ng Go) for a Writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- Matter of Application of Emma Clifton for Habeas Corpus 1
11 results
Download JSON Download CSVAbeita, Vicente
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: New Mexico
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Bound party
Clifton Jr., Charles
- Birth date: April 1, 1880
- Birth place: Nebraska
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: White
- Case role(s): Bound party
Giles, Haeckel Humboldt (Baeckel Humboldt Giles)
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Unknown
- Race or ethnicity: Unknown
- Case role(s): Bound party
Hahne, Elise M.
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: Iowa
- Sex: Female
- Race or ethnicity: White
- Case role(s): Petitioner
Hall, George
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: Texas
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Black
- Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner
Jackson, Samuel
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: Alaska, United States
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner
Kao, Wu (Ng Go)
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: China
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Asian
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
McKay, Mary (Mamie Keevan or Mary Keevan)
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: Washington Territory
- Sex: Female
- Race or ethnicity: White
- Case role(s): Bound party
McPhay, Perla
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: Mississippi
- Sex: Female
- Race or ethnicity: Black
- Case role(s): Interested party
Stewart, Samuel J.
- Birth date: January 1, 1880
- Birth place: Iowa, United States
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: White
- Case role(s): Respondent, holding party, responding party
Taylor, Gertie
- Birth date: October 1, 1880
- Birth place: Iowa
- Sex: Female
- Race or ethnicity: White
- Case role(s): Holding party, respondent, responding party
