ARRANGEMENT
SERIES I. REGISTER OF ARRESTS, 1876 – 1897
SERIES II. SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PRISON REGISTER, 1884 – 1895
SERIES III. CITY OF SANTA CRUZ, COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ, POLICE COURT (1933 – 1952)
SERIES IV. SANTA CRUZ JUDICIAL TOWNSHIP, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, JUSTICE’S COURT (1928 – 1952)
SERIES V. SANTA CRUZ JUDICIAL TOWNSHIP, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, JUSTICE’S COURT (1952)
SERIES VI. CITY OF SANTA CRUZ, COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ, POLICE COURT (1933 – 1952)
SERIES VII. SANTA CRUZ JUDICIAL TOWNSHIP, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, JUSTICE’S COURT (1928 – 1952)
SERIES VIII. RECORD OF THE PROBATE COURT (1850 – 1898)
Subseries VIII.A. Record of the Probate Court Ledger (1873 – 1876)
Subseries VIII.B. Probate Court Documents (1850 – 1898)
Subseries VIII.C. Indenture Statements (1864 – 1886)
SERIES IX. CERTIFICATION OF JUDGE OF SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ (1880 – 1907)
SERIES X. PROBATE AND MINER’S COURT LEDGER (1850 – 1950)
SERIES XI. CORONER’S INQUEST (1901 – 1939)
SERIES XII. SUPERIOR COURT RECORDS (1850 – 1959)
CONTENTS
SERIES I. REGISTER OF ARRESTS, 1876 – 1897
One (1) Box
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains a leather bound journal for the recording of arrests in Santa Cruz from 1876 to 1897. The entries list individual’s name, arresting official, date and charge. Examples include:
W.H. Stebbon(?) – Past Driving Bridge in 1876
John Collins – Vulgur Language in 1880
Ed Read – Smoking Opium in 1881
Pete Hogan – Visiting House of Ill Repute in 1882
I. Recht – Battery in 1883
John Doe – Violating Gambling Ordnance in 1883
Box ID#: Folder #
1:X
SERIES II. SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PRISON REGISTER, 1884 – 1895
One (1) Box
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains a leather bound journal for the recording of incarcerations at the Santa Cruz County Prison from 1884 to 1895. The entries list individual’s name, crime committed, date of commitment, fine, bail and jail time. The length of sentences are measured in days and remarks occasionally describe subsequent destinations such as San Quentin, other prisons or hospitals.
Box ID#: Folder #
2:X
SERIES III. CITY OF SANTA CRUZ, COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ, POLICE COURT (1933 – 1952)
One (1) Ledger
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains the General Index for all Traffic Actions for 1933 – 1952. This is an A-Z Index by defendant’s name arranged by year, including number of suit, suit – when commenced (month, day, year), docket volume and page.
Box ID#: Folder #
X:X
SERIES IV. SANTA CRUZ JUDICIAL TOWNSHIP, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, JUSTICE’S COURT (1928 – 1952)
One (1) Ledger
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains the General Index to all Criminal Actions for October 1928 to 1952. Includes an A-Z index by defendant’s name arranged by year, included number of suit, suit when commenced (month, day, year), docket volume, and page.
Box ID#: Folder #
X:X
SERIES V. SANTA CRUZ JUDICIAL TOWNSHIP, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, JUSTICE’S COURT (1952)
Two (2) Volumes
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains two (2) volumes of the Motor Vehicle Docket arranged by Docket Number. The dockets contain the defendant’s name and mailing address, where the offense was committed, date, state license number, and proceedings. At the end of the volume there are the California Highway Patrol Parking Violations for January – December 1952.
– Volume 1: August 7, 1952 – November 29, 1952 (Docket numbers 25500-26299)
– Volume 2: November 29, 1952 – December 28, 1952 (Docket numbers 26300-26446)
Box ID#: Folder #
X:X
SERIES VI. CITY OF SANTA CRUZ, COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ, POLICE COURT (1933 – 1952)
One (1) Ledger
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains the General Index to all criminal actions for 16 October 1933 to 1952. It is an A-Z index by defendant’s name, arranged by year and includes number of suit, suit when commenced (month, day, year), docket volume, and page.
Box ID#: Folder #
X:X
SERIES VII. SANTA CRUZ JUDICIAL TOWNSHIP, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, JUSTICE’S COURT (1928 – 1952)
One (1) Ledger
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains the General Index to all criminal actions for October 1928 to December 1952. The index contains the defendant’s name, number of suit, suit when commenced (month, day, year), docket volume and page.
Box ID#: Folder #
X:X
SERIES VIII. RECORD OF THE PROBATE COURT (1850 – 1898)
One (1) Ledger and two (2) Folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains the ledger and official documents for the Probate Court in Santa Cruz for the period of 1850 to 1898.Probate courts ensure theproper distribution of theassets ofone who has died, determinesthe validity of wills, enforces the provisions of a valid will, oversees estateexecutors and administrators ensuring they are performing all actions required, and provides for the equitable distributionof the assets of persons who diewithout a valid will.
This series contains three (3) Subseries:
Record of the Probate Court Ledger (1873 – 1876)
Probate Court Documents (1850 – 1898)
Indenture Statements (1864 – 1886)
Subseries VIII.A. Record of the Probate Court Ledger (1873 – 1876)
One (1) Ledger
Subseries Scope, Content and Summary
This subseries contains the ledger recording the Santa Cruz Probate Court activities for the period from 24 November 1873 to 5 January 1876 (Note: the ledger is labelled Volume 4). The Accession Number for this ledger is 1996.11.5. The ledger lists the deceased individual’s name, date and action taken or ordered by the judge in relation to the estate including the appointment of guardians, and administrators and executors of the estate.
Subseries VIII.B. Probate Court Documents (1850 – 1898)
One (1) Folder
Subseries Content and Summary
This Subseries contains Probate Documents for Santa Cruz County from 1850 to 1898. These documents are related to the appointment of Executor, Administrative Sales, Payments, etc. for various individuals.
Inventory of Probate Court Documents (.pdf)
Subseries VIII.C. Indenture Statements (1864 – 1886)
One (1) Folder
Subseries Scope, Content and Summary
This subseries contains Indentures from 1864 to 1886. Indentures are legal; contracts reflecting a debt or purchase obligation. These indentures appear to be for the purchase of property in Santa Cruz County.
– 1 November 1864: Lewis Dodero, as guardian of Nicolas Dodero, and Henry Johans. Also, appears to be a second indenture dated 30 January 1863 between Lewis Dodero and Frank (?) and James Corcoran.
– 3 August 1868: Alfred and Mary Walker C. Hoffman.
– 6 May 1870: Nicholas and Marie Castro Valencia and the Santa Cruz Bank of savings and Loan.
– 1 March 1886: Joseph Poggi and Santa Cruz Bank of Savings and Loan. (Accession # 1990.20115).
SERIES IX. CERTIFICATION OF JUDGE OF SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ (1880 – 1907)
One (1) Ledger
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains the ledger for the certification by the Judge of the Superior County for the County of Santa Cruz. The judge was certifying that there were no pending court decisions greater than 90 days old. For the period of 1880 to 1896 these certifications were signed by Judge J.H. Logan. For the period of 1896 to 1907 the certifications were signed by Lucas F. Smith.
Box ID#: Folder ID#
4:2
SERIES X. PROBATE AND MINER’S COURT LEDGER (1850 – 1950)
One (1) Ledger
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains the ledger for the early probate’s from 1850 to 1853. The probate records are for Bennett, Williams, Neil, Ivial(?), Wade, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Armas, Castro, and Bacon. The remainder of the ledger contains the ByLaws for the County Mining District adopted 24 May 1856. There are also the mining court business of registering the mining companies and claims from 1856 to 1950. The first two pages are a copy of the original ByLaws and contained 13 sections that specified how large the claims were to be, how to register the claims, how much business a claim had to produce etc. There was then a reaffirmation of the ByLaws on 22 August 1863 with the Santa Cruz County Court House, Joseph Stringers (?) was elected Chairman and Edward Render was elected Secretary. The mining companies that registered with the court include:
Box ID#: Folder ID#
4:3
SERIES XI. CORONER’S INQUEST (1901 – 1939)
One (1) Box
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series includes coroner’s inquest reports conducted at various locations in Santa Cruz County. A Coroner’s duties always include determining the cause, time, and manner of death. This uses the same investigatory skills of a police detective in most cases, because the answers are available from the circumstances, scene, and recent medical records. In many American jurisdictions, any death not certified by the person’s own physician must be referred to the medical examiner. If an individual dies outside of his/her state of residence, the coroner of the state in which the death took place issues the death certificate. Only a small percentage of deaths require anautopsy to determine the time, cause and manner of death.
Link to Spreadsheet of Information on Coroner’s Inquest (.xlsx)
SERIES XII. SUPERIOR COURT RECORDS (1850 – 1959)
Eight (8) Boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
The mission of the Santa Cruz Superior Court is to preserve and protect the rights and ideals of society through the interpretation and enforcement of law. It frequently oversees matter of probate (Probate and conservatorship matters address a person’s finances upon death or the care of an adult person that is unable to care for themselves or their finances). The court also handles cases where one party sues another to recover money or property, enforce a contract, collect damages, or protect civil rights.
Inventory of Contents in Superior Court Files (.pdf)
