The Library of Virginia (LVA) is very pleased to announce the completion of another digital scanning project and to mark a milestone in its ongoing effort to preserve the documentary heritage of Virginia's circuit courts. The processing, indexing, and digital reformatting of the Goochland County chancery causes is now complete. The Goochland County chancery images span the years 1731 through 1912 (the index covers through 1924) and bring the total number of available chancery images to over 5 million. The images have been added to the Chancery Records Index <http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/chancery/> (CRI) on Virginia Memory <http://www.virginiamemory.com/> . Because these records rely so heavily on testimony from witnesses, they offer a unique glimpse into the lives of Virginians from the early 18th century to the eve of First World War. A broad spectrum of citizens-rich and poor, black and white, slave and free-appear in the records. Chancery cases are a valuable source of local, state, social, and legal history and serve as a primary source for understanding local history. They show the growth of business and industry in a locality, from taverns and churches to mines and creameries. Among the 119,000 images scanned from the Goochland collection are ones related to disputes over land, wills, divorces, debts, and business issues. The names of slaves suing for their freedom, of the descendants of the Huguenot settlers of Manakin-Towne, of planters, millers, coal miners, church leaders, and ordinary citizens appear in the records. Carefully-drawn plats sometimes illustrate cases involving disputed property lines and mining rights. Ornate marriage certificates and licenses accompany some divorce suits. Broadsides advertise the auction of farms and businesses describing the land and its features or the business and its equipment. This wealth of information is available from any Internet connected computer. Goochland County joins forty-six counties and cities whose chancery causes have been digitally reformatted and made available through the Library's innovative Circuit Court Records Preservation Program. 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 800 E. Broad St. Richmond, VA 23219 804/225-4452 (voice) 804/692-2277 (fax) http://www.lva.virginia.gov <blocked::http://www.lva.virginia.gov/> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html