HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com
HALL DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hall/HDNAtest.htm
"One of the tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a brutal gang of facts" - La Rochefoucauld

I have the following record that I'm not sure I understand......

Goochland County, Virginia
Court Order Book 1730-1731
December Court 1730

Hatcher vs. Symes
In the Action of Trespass on the Case between Henry Hatcher Assignee of Samuell Hatcher Plt. and Richard Syms Defendt. the sheriff having made return on the Alias Capias that the Deft. is not to be found and he failing to appear on the Plts. motion a Plurias Capias is awarded against the Deft. returnable to the next Court.

My understanding is that an "assignee" has had certain "rights" transferred to him, usually involving some sort of property. But in a "trespass" case, that definition doesn't seem to make sense.

So....why would Henry Hatcher be the "assignee" of Samuel Hatcher and what exactly was "assigned" to him?

One thought I had is that Henry lived in Goochland where the trespass occurred but Samuel, the owner of the land trespassed upon, did not. So Samuel "assigned" Henry to represent him in the Goochland court.

Is this a possibility and are there other reasons to explain this assignment?

Thanks for any and all input!

Nel Hatcher

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