About Us
Justices of the Peace of the U.S.
Origins  In January 2001, Saul Haffner became a Justice of the Peace in Connecticut and looked around for a place to announce that he was available and eager to perform weddings. Advertising in the phone book was prohibitively expensive and there was no on-line web site dedicated to Justices of the Peace. So he suggested to his wife, Barbara Jay, a web designer, that she create one. Thus began Justices of the Peace of Connecticut. 
 

Are you getting married?		 The home page of the original web site featured photos of two of their daughters' weddings, both officiated by Justices of the Peace.
Are you a Justice of the Peace?

Growth  As its popularity grew, the JP Association branched out into neighboring states where Justices of the Peace perform civil ceremonies: Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. With high hopes of going national, the original website jpct.org was renamed jpUS.org. At the same time, the founders decided to separate the two markets served by the website: couples seeking a JP and the JPs themselves. The URL jpUS.org was retained as the home of the JP Association, and all the JP listings were moved to a new website findaJP.com.

Today Justices of the Peace from nearly all towns in Connecticut are listed on the findaJP.com website, with more than 200 having featured listings that come with membership in jpUS.org.  Massachusetts JPs are well represented too, followed by New Hampshire, Vermont, Texas, Louisiana and South Carolina (where JPs are on the way out). The Association publishes a monthly e-newsletter for Justices of the Peace, with news and information about governmental and societal developments affecting their duties. In September, 2005, on the eve of the legalization of civil unions for same-sex couples in Connecticut, the Association hosted the first state-wide conference for JPs in Middletown. Another state-wide event was held in November, 2006, in New Britain.

In 2007 and 2008, the format was changed. Three half-day conferences were scheduled each year, at Town Halls around the state: Haddam, Newtown and Union in 2007; Durham, Bristol and Norwalk in 2008. In 2009, the locations are Griswold, Barkhamsted and Weston.