How do I find a Connecticut privateer’s commission?

At it’s most basic level, privateering could be considered legalized piracy. Privateers were given a commission by the state government or Continental Congress to search for and attack merchant ships. This action benefited both the authorizing government, as it weakened the enemy’s supply chain, and the privateer, who received a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the cargo.

The commission was key to the process. Without a commission, the ship’s crew were legally pirates – and some crews, who for various reasons did not have appropriate papers, were treated as such. So, how do you find them?

Many of the commissions given by the State of Connecticut were recorded in The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut.

For example:

Charles J. Hoadly, The Public Records of the State of Connecticut, Vol. 3 (Hartford: The Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co, 1922), 122; digital images, HathiTrust (https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c025914792?urlappend=%3Bseq=132%3Bownerid=115937031-136: accessed 26 February 2022).

The years covering the Revolutionary War have been digitized and are accessible at HathiTrust.

Published by Bryna O'Sullivan

Proprietor of Charter Oak Genealogy, Bryna O'Sullivan specializes in assisting clients with lineage society applications and with French to English genealogical translations.

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