JS’s first recorded interaction with the law occurred at the age of thirteen when he served as a witness in a case brought by his and older brother against , a prominent citizen of , New York. On 27 March 1818, and signed a promissory note to pay Hurlbut sixty-five dollars in grain for the purchase of two horses. During the subsequent summer, Joseph Sr. and his sons Alvin, JS, and worked on the farms of Hurlbut and his widowed mother, performing various services. Hurlbut also sold goods to the Smiths and rented them a plow. The Smiths paid Hurlbut fifty-three dollars toward the note on 18 August 1818. However, in January 1819, before the remaining sum could be paid, Smith Sr. and Alvin brought a “” suit against Hurlbut, asserting that the horses had proven unsound. After an initial hearing before Abraham Spear, a justice of the peace in , New York, the plaintiffs requested a jury trial, which occurred on 6 February 1819. The witnesses included JS and , and the jury awarded the plaintiffs $40.78 in damages and $4.76 in court costs.

The next day, hired an attorney to appeal the verdict to the court of common pleas as well as to initiate a new suit against the Smiths. In June 1819, Hurlbut filed a statement of issues alleging that the Smiths had failed to satisfy the promissory note and claiming $140 in damages. According to the common law , the Smiths were required to file a responding to the statement. However, they were unable to do so, and on 31 July Hurlbut’s attorney motioned that a default judgment be entered. At the August 1819 term of the court of common pleas, First Judge Nathaniel W. Howell and his associate judges held that the Smiths’ failure to appear and file a plea resulted in an interlocutory judgment and Hurlbut was entitled to his damages.

This calendar lists all known documents created by or for the court, whether extant or not. It does not include versions of documents created for other purposes, though those versions may be listed in footnotes. In certain cases, especially in cases concerning unpaid debts, the originating document (promissory note, invoice, etc.) is listed here. Note that documents in the calendar are grouped with their originating court. Where a version of a document was subsequently filed with another court, that version is listed under both courts.