10 One must be very careful in the use of court records as a source for family history. In Massachusetts, judicial materials have survived in more abundance than other types of evidence, and they also tend to be exceptionally graphic. But to build an interpretation of Puritan families upon that base would be comparable to writing a history of the American family today from record of intervention by the police in family quarrels. Many scholars (including the author) have also used the testimony of court depositions, which are rich sources of information on problems far removed from their nominal subject or theme. But these inferences must also be drawn with caution, for court depositions do not derive from a cross-section of New England’s population. Opposite biases exist in prescriptive sources. Accuracy requires a balance between these forms of evidence.
11 Miriam Hibel, “Adultery in Maryland and Massachusetts” (unpublished paper, Brandeis, 1978.)
12 Demos, A Little Commonwealth, 88.