Second and third generation Longfellows had a talent for pursuing legal remedies to air their concerns. For the first time ever, the detail of many civil court cases will be found in print. The cases provide a window into early colonial times, by names, type of event, and detail, but especially the seacoast town of Hampton, New Hampshire and surrounding towns.

The atmosphere was quite common: neighbors sued neighbors and cousins sued even immediate family members. Neighbors perhaps remembered their Longfellow antagonist and would later return the favor. Often it was to recover a debt. Individuals commonly failed to honor debts, or live up to written promissory notes and iou's. They often went to court to resolve land disputes in cases of ejectment, or, in one case an assault. The sheriff usually assigned the unpleasant chore of serving the writ to appear in court, to his deputy. He then went to the home of the defendant, and quite often the deputy deposed that "nobody was home." Probably the deputy and his friend actually engaged in some friendly banter. But in his deposition the deputy would state that he "attached" property of the defendant. Often this was a hat, a piece of cloth, a house, barn, load of hay, etc. It served as proof he was there, while leaving a legal summons for the defendant to appear in court.