The chancery court suits are a moving target. Some are still at the county level, some are in storage at the Library of Virginia, some are still being scanned. In some cases (Madison county , for example) most are still at the county but some have been scanned by the Library of Virginia.

The Library of Virginia will NOT allow you access original records unless the microfilm or scanned image is illegible. If a record has not been microfilmed or scanned, access is allowed. (Actually, as taxpayers and if a resident of Virginia, one can throw a real fit about it but it is not worth wasting chits over.)

The cost of copies at any Court House in Virginia is set by law at 50 cents per page. A small savings over microfilm copies at the Library of Virginia, assuming they will do it. This is also hit or miss.  It is my understanding that the 50 cents charged by the County Clerk's goes to the Library of Virginia--not directly but as part of a fund for records preservation. (Someone will please clarify that for me.)

As for marriage bonds, they are NOT all at the county level. Many are at the Library of Virginia and available on microfilm. For example, Lancaster County. 

Last, there are some counties in Virginia who absolutely refuse to hand over any records to the Library of Virginia, period end of story. (I won't mention one that comes to mind.)

As I said, it's all hit and miss.

Craig Kilby

On Jan 27, 2010, at 10:32 PM, Michael Hait wrote:

> There is a Chancery Court case on microfilm at the Library of Virginia involving my family.  It is a very large file, over 100 pages.  I started printing it out on my last visit, but at $0.75 per page (assuming that I get a readable copy of each page on the first try), this is just too darn expensive.
>  
> My question is:  are the original files still at the county courthouses, and are the courthouses generally willing to copy these files for researchers via the mail?  Would this be a less expensive way to obtain the file?  Or  was the Chancery Court a state-wide court as it was in Maryland, and if so, where would the original case file be held?
>  
> I am still on a learning curve as to Virginia research, so please forgive what might seem to be fairly simple questions.  I ordered marriage bonds directly from the county courts before with great success, so I just thought that this might also help me with the cost of this file.
>  
> Thanks
>  
>  
>  
> Michael Hait
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.haitfamilyresearch.com
> Author, The Family History Research Toolkit (www.genealogical.com)
> National African-American Genealogy Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/x-8873-African-American-Genealogy-Examiner)


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