Law Library adds Territorial court records from more than 200 years ago found in Vicksburg

JACKSON, Miss. – Records of the Supreme Court of the Mississippi Territory spanning 1799 to 1809  were added to the digital archive of the State Law Library in Jackson on Jan. 10 and are available for viewing online here.

The records were discovered in March 2024 among thousands of books slated for an April 2024 estate sale in Vicksburg. The books are, literally, pages out of history.

The 1805-1809 Minute Book of the Supreme Court of the Mississippi Territory documents early stages of the 1807 arrest and attempted prosecution of former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr on treason charges. A preliminary proceeding was held at Washington, Mississippi, then the territorial capital. An entry dated Feb. 4, 1807, says that a grand jury found no reason to hold Burr. The document reads, “The Grand Jury of the Mississippi Territory as a due consideration of the evidence brought before them are of opinion that Aaron Burr has not been guilty of any Crime or misdemeanor against the laws of the United States or of this territory or given any just occasion for the alarm….” An entry records that Attorney General George Poindexter appeared before the Territorial Supreme Court on Feb. 7, 1807, and “moved that the defendant be called by the Sheriff, which was objected to by Lyman Harding Esquire one of the Securities of this Aaron Burr for his appearance at this Term.” Penned in elegant, flowing script, the document says that Burr was “called but came not.” Burr was arrested nearly a week later, on Feb. 13, 1807, in what is now Alabama, then still part of the Mississippi Territory.

“This is an historic treasure,” Presiding Justice Jim Kitchens said when the Supreme Court received the books. “It’s foundational in our legal system in Mississippi. Mississippi has long recognized the doctrine that courts can speak only through their minutes. The content of these volumes provides a glimpse of the efforts of our judicial ancestors to establish the rule of law in what was to become the states of Mississippi and Alabama.”

The U.S. Congress created the Mississippi Territory in 1798. Natchez was the first territorial capital, and was replaced in 1802 by nearby Washington. Mississippi became a state in 1817, and Jackson became the state capital in 1822. Alabama gained statehood in 1819.

State Librarian Stephen Parks spotted listings of the minute books after a friend sent him an advertisement for the estate sale. Presiding Justice Kitchens requested that the two volumes, historic public records, be turned over to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Attorney Freddie Rush of Carrollton, administrator of the estate which had the books, purchased them from the estate shortly before the scheduled sale and gave them to the Supreme Court on March 27, 2024.

When Rush delivered the books to the Supreme Court, Presiding Justice Kitchens said,  “You have done a great thing and I really appreciate it.” Rush replied, “I have done what I think needed to be done.”

The 1799 -1803 Minute Book of the Supreme Court of the Mississippi Territory, coverless and tattered, opens with a who’s who of territorial history, documenting that William McGuire, Chief Justice, and Peter Bryan Bruin, Second Judge, presented their commissions under the hand and seal of the President of the United States. The handwritten script, a corner of which is missing, reads, “At a Supreme Court held for the Mississippi Territory … Town of Natchez in the County of Adams on …twenty third day of September in the year of …one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine ….The Honorable – William McGuire Chief Justice, and Peter Bryan Bruin second Judge, …their commissions under the hand and seal of the President of the United States, the first as Chief Justice and the other as Second Judge of the Mississippi Territory, and the court being opened in the usual form the same are read.”

The ragged brown opening page goes on to record Robert Stark’s oath as Clerk of the Supreme Court of the Territory and Lyman Harding’s oath as Attorney General, both having received  commissions from the Territorial Governor. The commissions of attorneys James Williams, William Conner, Leonard Shaw and Abner L. Duncan are recorded as having taken an oath to practice before the Territorial Court.

Judges of the Territorial Supreme Court had trial jurisdiction over serious crimes, appellate jurisdiction, and the power to convene the grand jury. September 1799 minutes record what appears to be a grand jury report. The record details the slaying of Jack, a slave, by Paul, another slave. The record uses only first names. The record of a trial held only days later shows that Paul was found not guilty and discharged from the sheriff’s custody.

Various charges of horse theft are recorded in the minutes. In one such case, the Attorney General sought a show cause of why the Adams County Sheriff should not face a fine because a man charged with horse stealing escaped jail.

The 1799-1803 Minute Book is 171 scanned pages, as the scan includes backs of some pages. The original paper copy has 121 pages of minute entries plus an alphabetical index.  The 1805-1809 volume is 142 scanned pages. The original is 117 pages of minute entries and an index.

Access to the original minute books is restricted, as they are fragile. It’s unknown what happened to any similar volume documenting 1804, if one existed.

Parks said, “So little is known to us about the Territorial Court because our Law Library collection previously didn’t extend back that far. These are a primary source documenting the establishment of and the early proceedings of the legal system of this territory that became Mississippi. We are appreciative of Mr. Rush assisting us in obtaining these items. It’s not often that items as rare as these come up for sale, or even viewing.”

Now anyone with access to the internet can view digital copies of most of the pages.  Parks said that he hopes to have the documents transcribed in the future. The digital copies are not easy to read, despite the writers’ near-perfect penmanship. For instance, some s’s look like f’s in the Old English tradition, and ink bled through from opposite pages. 

The volumes had been in the library of the late Lucius B. Dabney Jr. of Vicksburg, a sixth generation attorney whose family law firm began in 1794 in Virginia. The firm moved to Raymond in 1835, then to Vicksburg in 1885.  Lucius Dabney Jr. joined the firm in 1949, and practiced law in Vicksburg until several years before his death on Aug. 11, 2022, at the age of 96.

In October 2024, the City of Vicksburg dedicated an historical marker recognizing the Dabney and Dabney law firm as the oldest family-owned law firm in Mississippi. Retired Circuit Judge Frank Vollor of Vicksburg said that Dabney “was very proud of that – the history of his firm.”

Rush, who was friends with Lucius Dabney for 50 years, is administrator of the Dabney estate. “It’s been an interesting learning experience,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot about Aaron Burr and his conspiracy trials.”

It’s unclear when or how Dabney acquired the minute books. His library and collection included original documents signed by John Hancock and Alexander Hamilton, historic pictures, Confederate currency and other Civil War relics.  Alongside hundreds of volumes of law books were some rare books.  The oldest volume, which was sold before the estate sale, was printed in 1496, in Latin. Rush said that Dabney’s father and grandfather also were avid collectors.

Jennifer McGillan, Coordinator of Manuscripts for Mississippi State University Libraries, said, “Lucius Dabney was a significant collector of historic Mississippi matters,” as was his father. MSU purchased some of his collection a few years ago. A significant part of Dabney’s Natchez Trace collection went to the University of Texas at Austin.

Judge Vollor said he had not seen the Territorial Minutes, but appreciates the significance of their survival and return to public view after having been in Dabney’s safekeeping. “His contribution is priceless. We’ve lost so much of our history, and he was very involved in preserving history, where we came from and how we got to where we are. He made a tremendous contribution.”