In 2014, the Friends of Santa Rosa Libraries funded a project to convert the microfilm images of the existing Sonoma County District Court record indices to digital images. Volunteers from the Sonoma County Genealogical Society then abstracted these records from the digital images. The original indices were far from complete; entries from approximately 1865 to 1878 were totally missing. To fill in the gaps, the SCGS volunteers abstracted information from the twelve volumes of the original District Court Fee Book and Registers housed at the Sonoma County Archives.
This book is arranged in four sections: Index, Old Series Suits, New Series Suits, and Complaints in Equity Series Suits. The Index provides a comprehensive name index of all three Sonoma County District Court suit series; the latter three sections document each District Court suit's suit number, plaintiffs, defendants, Fee Book and Register volume and page number reference, and date of action (usually the date the initial complaint was filed). The Old Series records comprise 1,305 District Court suits, which were initially filed during the years 1850 to 1863. The New Series records comprise 2,943 District Court suits, which were initially filed during the years 1863 to 1879. The Old and New Series District Court suits concern a wide variety of topics, ranging from simple breach of contract and insolvency cases to defamation of character, slander, embezzlement, divorce, and even murder cases. The Complaints in Equity Series records comprise 768 District Court suits, which concern non-payment of taxes (both state and county) on land in Sonoma County, and were initially filed during the years 1864 to 1872.
Sonoma County [California] Genealogical Society
2016, 8.5" x 11", paper, 476 pp.
ISBN: 9780788457470
101-S5747
