Not just the story of Aaron Burr
The Grand Jury in and for the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky, Frankfort Term, was convinced.
The man had committed treason against the United States of America.
“He did willfully and unlawfully, and from evil premeditation … prepare for a military expedition against the dominions of the King of Spain, who is an European prince at peace with the said United States,” the indictment read.1
The man: “a certain Aaron Burr, late of the City of New York and vice president of the said United States.”2
That indictment, in the case of United States v. Burr, was returned on this day, 25 November, in the year 1806. It’s highlighted today in one of The Legal Genealogist‘s favorite resources: Today’s Document from the National Archives, and you can read the indictment online.
And though this law geek would totally geek out just because it’s one of the coolest legal-history documents around — setting the stage for the first real test of the treason clause of the United States Constitution3 — it’s also a great example of a legal case with genealogical value for a lot of families.
Think for a minute about all the people who were involved in one way or another in the Burr case.
Yeah, you have the key players on the national scene: it was Thomas Jefferson as President who wanted Burr prosecuted for treason. Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court who’d preside at the trial. Constitutional Convention delegates Edmund Randolph and Luther Martin who defended Burr, along with John Wickham. Future Attorney General William Wirt and George Hay leading the prosecution.4
But now think about everybody else involved.
There were those who were, in one way or another, involved with Burr in whatever he was up to that got him into trouble. (The facts, even today, aren’t entirely clear as to whether Burr was thinking about trying to take over land from what was then Spanish territory or whether he was actually trying to set up his own country with English support, taking western states out of the union.5) Among them, General James Wilkinson and an Irish immigrant named Harman Blennerhassett.
There were the members of the Grand Jury who returned that first indictment 213 years ago today.
Those involved in the raid on Burr’s and Blennerhassett’s outpost in December 1806.
Those involved in Burr’s apprehension and arrest in Alabama in 1807 and in bringing him to Virginia for trial.
Those who were there in March 1807 when Burr was brought before Marshall for a hearing at a special session of the U.S. Circuit Court at the Eagle Tavern in Richmond.6
The members of the second grand jury convened in Virginia in 1807 that returned a second indictment against Burr in June.7
Those who worked at the Virginia penitentiary at which Burr was held until his trial.8
The members of the trial jury seated in August 1807.9
The 140 witnesses proposed to be called in Burr’s case, and the dozen witnesses who actually testified before a major argument over whether evidence should be excluded went in Burr’s favor.10
The Burr story isn’t one just for the Burr family.
It’s a story to be documented for the families of all of those who were there.
In every single court case, there are so many players beyond the named parties: judges, jurors, court attendants, witnesses, lawyers, court and news reporters and even spectators.
It’s our job as genealogists to tell all of their stories.
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Beyond the named parties,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 25 Nov 2019).
SOURCES
- Indictment of Aaron Burr for Treason, 1806; Judgments and Decrees, 1800 – 1860; U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky, Frankfort Term; Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 – 1991; Record Group 21; National Archives. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- See Scott Bomboy, “Aaron Burr’s trial and the Constitution’s treason clause,” Constitution Daily, posted 1 Sep 2019 (https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/ : accessed 25 Nov 2019). ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- See Ibid. See also Evan Andrews, “Aaron Burr’s Notorious Treason Case,” History.com, updated 22 Aug 2018 (https://www.history.com/ : accessed 25 Nov 2019). ↩
- See Charles F. Hobson, The Aaron Burr Treason Trial, Federal Judicial Center, 2006; PDF online, Federal Judicial Center (https://www.fjc.gov/ : accessed 25 Nov 2019). ↩
- Ibid., “The Judicial Process: A Chronology,” p. 10-11. ↩
- Ibid., p. 11. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
How do we decide how much detail to go into? Take, based on one of my current research projects, the probate judge or their recorded for a given county. They will have been there for every probate case in that county during their term of service. Or for one of my ancestors, my paternal grandfather’s paternal grandfather was Master of the Schooner Decorra according to that ship’s paperwork for all but twelve months from 1 July 1876 until 20 April 1907. (He actually died in December 1906.) I can place the vessel on 474 occasions over the 352 months he was master, almost all of them port calls where paperwork was generated. These placements come from either government paperwork and shipping news.
The government paperwork was all required by law for tax purposes. These include temporary and permanent (yep, law there too) certificates of registration (for foreign trade) and enrollment and license (for domestic coastal trade).
The news reports in the shipping news sections of newspapers are mostly very brief mentions. A sample from the New York Herald includes such deep stories as:
1) 21 June 1899, Lubec, Me. Sailed: Schr. Decorra, New York.
2) 4 Sept. 1899, Vineyard Haven, Mass. Passed: Schr Decorra, Berry, Machias for New York.
3) 22 Sept. 1899, NY, NY. Passed City Island: Bound East: Schr. Decorra, Berry, Edgewater for Orrs Island, Me.
4) 29 Sept. 1899, Boston, Mass. Sailed: Schr Decorra, New York for Portland.
A few are better, sometimes much better:
5) 22 Sep. 1881, NY, NY. Passed Through Hell Gate: Bound South: Schr. Decorra, Berry, River Herbert NS, for New York, 10 days, with spiling to E L Richardson
6) 4 Jul. 1887, Machias, Me., Yesterday afternoon, off Mount Desert, schr Decorra (of this port), from Sand River with spilings for New York, and a bark from Boston for Windsor, came into collision. The sch lost her foretop mast, cathead, all her standing rigging on the port side and her chain plates and several of her stnuchions were stove. With the aid of a tug she returned to Machias for repairs. She will probably proceed without discharging.
7) “American Ships Now At Sea. Vessels Sailing Under the United States Flag Which Might Fall Prey to Spain. … Schooner Decorra, sailed from New York for Jacmel, January 26” (she didn’t have any known trouble)
My inclination is to look at the patterns on the typical items and spend time only on the ones that look like something atypical happened. But is this overemphasizing the unusual? (Of course, searching for all the records for just this aspect of his life would take enormous quantities of time, as most of the records don’t indicate the sellers/shippers or receivers/buyers of the vessel’s cargo. NY harbor is one of the most frequently visited ports and there were more than a few candidates for mercantile shipping in the multiple ports that are served by the NY harbor.)
There isn’t any one right answer for this. The reality is, we could get completely swept up in the life story of one ancestor and end up writing a full book on that one life. Or the life story could spur us into a major research project on, say, the full story of the Schooner Decorra from the day her keel was laid down. That’s the joy of genealogy: when something we’re doing fires our imagination and our passion and we go with it.
Thanks Judy.
On the original point about looking at everything, I have seen from my current probate project some interesting examples for people involved in the probate administration process. The one I just saw is in the report of the commissioners allowing/disallowing debts, only one of the commissioners signs the report, with the added note “I Abijah Crane would hereby certify that the claims presented against the estate of Seth Lincoln were examined & allowed & disallowed as above reported and that the sudden death of S.A.Morse Jr. prevented his signature to this report.” I’ve also seen a similar note about someone who “moved to the westward”.
Absolutely — you’ll find the same sort of thing on tax and jury lists (“gone to Texas” and one even “gone fishing”).