The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce that the Accomack County
chancery causes, 1727-1805, and Fluvanna County chancery causes,
1779-1882, are now available on the Chancery Records Index
<http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/chancery> . The Accomack
County material consist of chancery suits recovered from court records
found in the attic of the clerk's office in 1996
<http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2011/04/27/treasure-
in-the-attic-accomack-county-colonial-era-records/> .  Additional
chancery from Accomack County will be added at a later date. The
Fluvanna County chancery causes were separated from court records housed
at the Library of Virginia. Additional Fluvanna County chancery records
are available at the Circuit Court Clerk's office.


 

A number of the Accomack County chancery causes for this date range
concern the division of slaves. An example is Accomack County chancery
cause 1799-019
<http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=001-1799-019>
. This suit includes a report of a division of slaves (image # 7) among
the heirs of William Taylor.  Accomack County chancery cause 1783-013
<http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=001-1783-013>
(image # 13) contains a September 1777 letter that references British
losses at the Battle of Brandywine.  Accomack County chancery cause
1801-005
<http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=001-1801-005>
is a freedom suit filed by a slave named Mary claiming freedom on the
basis of her mother's Native American ancestry. She argues that her
mother, Mall Cook, was "one of the native aboriginal Indians of this
country" (image #2).

 

Fluvanna County chancery cause suits of interest include 1812-007
<http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=065-1812-007>
, concerning title to lands of British subjects escheated by Act of the
Commonwealth in 1779. Exhibits include a 1725 patent, a list of
landowners in Fluvanna County in 1796, and multiple plats (image# 146).
Fluvanna County chancery cause 1807-004
<http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=065-1807-004>
contains information on a mercantile partnership at Old Ferry, a house
at Point of Fork, business interests in Richmond and Petersburg, a
schoolmaster to the Cary family in Fluvanna County, the mental health of
an African American woman named Mary, and the murder of an enslaved man
by another enslaved man. The defendant in this suit was David Ross, a
prominent Virginia businessman and landowner. His answer to the
complaint includes details about his business with his business partner
in the town of Columbia in the 1790s and early 1800s (image # 8).
Finally, Fluvanna County chancery cause 1841-006
<http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=065-1841-006>
includes an 1840 letter from Crawford County, Arkansas, to a person in
Kentucky, describing farm land in Arkansas, unhappiness with the current
President of the United States, and a loud celebration of the Fourth of
July (Image # 33 and 34).

 

These localities join forty-eight counties and cities whose chancery
causes have been digitally reformatted and made available through the
Library's innovative Circuit Court Records Preservation Program, which
seeks to preserve the historic records of Virginia's Circuit Courts.  

To date, The Library of Virginia has posted over 5.7 million digital
chancery images. Additional localities are presently being scanned and
will be posted in the coming months. However, because of reductions to
the Library of Virginia's budget in recent years, the pace of the
agency's digital chancery projects will necessarily proceed more slowly.
Please know these projects remain a very high priority for the agency
and it is hoped that the initiative can be resumed in full when the
economy and the agency's budget situation improve. Please see the
Chancery Records Index for a listing of the available locality chancery
collections. 

Chancery causes are cases that are decided on the basis of equity and
fairness as opposed to the strictly formulated rules of common law
cases.  Chancery cases are especially useful when researching local
history, genealogical information, and land or estate divisions.  They
are a valuable source of local, state, social, and legal history and
serve as a primary source for understanding a locality's history.
Chancery causes often contain correspondence; property lists, including
slaves; lists of heirs; and vital statistics, along with many other
records.  Some of the more common types of chancery causes involve
divisions of the estate of a person who died intestate (without a will);
divorces; settlements of dissolved business partnerships; and
resolutions of land disputes.

If you have any comments, questions, or corrections regarding the CRI or
scanned images, please contact [log in to unmask]

 

Vincent T. Brooks

Senior Local Records Archivist

The Library of Virginia: Archives of the Commonwealth

800 E. Broad St.

Richmond, VA  23219

804/225-4452 (voice)

804/692-2277 (fax)

Website: http://www.lva.virginia.gov
<blocked::http://www.lva.virginia.gov/>  

Blog: Out of the Box
<http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/> 

[log in to unmask] 

 

 


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