The records are manuscript volumes showing the date of each inquest or viewing, name of the deceased (if known), sex, race, place of birth or national origin (irregularly), location of the body when viewed, cause of death, and the names of the citizens acting as the Coroner's jury. Free persons of color and slaves are identified as such, but very few of the latter are included in the records. In some cases statements have been added to the effect that the Coroner provided for the interment of persons who died without funds to pay for their own burial.

From time to time there are gaps in the record, notably for August, 1844 to March, 1846; May, 1847 to July, 1848; and June to November, 1851. Indexes, some of them in separate volumes, exist for several of the record books. Between 1868 and 1881 there are separate volumes for the two Coroner's provided for by the Legislature in the former year.