We had a group of students come in the other day that was studying early Delaware. Their assignment was to find interesting tidbits about Delaware. We sent them to the early court records for each of the counties. They were surprised at what they found.
For example, there is a list and description of livestock earmarks registered with the Kent County Court in 1686 and 1687, and a court docket showing fines of 50 lbs. of tobacco for smoking in court. But the most interesting thing they found were the bounties for wolf heads. First they couldn’t believe that Delaware had wolves at one time and then they kept saying “they actually brought the head in to get paid?” They made copies of the pages and all received “A’s” on their reports.
To learn more about Delaware’s early period view our Exanining The 17th Century Through The Documents Of The Delaware Public Archives exhibit on our digital archives page.
Related Topics: Court Records, Early Delaware History, Earmarks, Kent County, New Castle County, studying, Sussex County, Tobacco, Wolves Heads