Research


Scope and Content Note

This series consists of twenty-eight bound volumes of executive orders directing the secretary of state to "make out" pardons, commutations, restorations of citizenship or respites. Under the provisions of the state's constitutions, the governor has the authority to issue these instruments. Each respite for pardon contains the date, convict's name, crime, place where tried, sentence, and place of incarceration, and the governor's signature. The commutations contain the date, convict's name, crime, place where tried, sentence, place of incarceration, terms of the commutation, and the signature of the governor. The restorations contain the same information as the pardons. The respites contain the date, convict's name, crime (usually murder), place and date where tried, date of execution, dates of respite, and the signature of the governor. There are no name indexes to the volumes.