A Guide to the Spotsylvania County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1812-1913 (bulk 1823-1913)
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Chancery Records Index: Spotsylvania County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1812-001-1913-035
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Processed by: LVA staff
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Patrons are to use digital images of Spotsylvania County (Va.) Chancery Causes found on the Chancery Records Index available electronically at the website of the Library of Virginia.
Preferred Citation
Spotsylvania County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1812-1913 (bulk 1823-1913). (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local Government Records Collection, Spotsylvania County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Digital images were generated by Backstage Library Works through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program.
Historical Information
Chancery Causes are cases of equity. According to Black's Law Dictionary they are "administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law." A judge, not a jury, determines the outcome of the case.
Spotsylvania County was named for Alexander Spotswood, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1710 to 1722. It was formed from Essex, King William, and King and Queen Counties by a statute adopted in 1720 to take effect on 1 May 1721. The county seat is Spotsylvania.
Many loose county court papers prior to 1839, when the courthouse moved from Fredericksburg to Spotsylvania Courthouse, are missing. Volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist. The district court, superior court, and circuit court records of Spotsylvania County from 1813 to 1889 are in Fredericksburg.
Scope and Content
Spotsylvania County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1812-1913 (bulk 1823-1913), are indexed into the Chancery Records Index . Cases are identified by style of suit consisting of plaintiff and defendant names. Surnames of others involved in a suit, including secondary plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses, deponents and affiants, and family members with surnames different from the plaintiff or defendant are indexed. Chancery causes often involved the following: divisions of estates or land, disputes over wills, divorces, debt, and business disputes. Predominant documents found in chancery causes include bills (plaintiff's complaint), answers (defendant's response), decrees (court's decision), depositions, affidavits, correspondence, lists of heirs, deeds, wills, slave records, business records or vital statistics, among other items. Plats, if present, are noted, as are wills from localities with an incomplete record of wills or localities other than the one being indexed.
Chancery cases are 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.
Arrangement
Organized by case, of which each is assigned a unique index number comprised of the latest year found in case and a sequentially increasing 3-digit number assigned by the processor as cases for that year are found. Arranged chronologically.
Arrangement of documents within each folder are as follows: Bill, Answer, and Final Decree (if found.)
Related Material
Additional Spotsylvania County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."
Spotsylvania County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Spotsylvania County Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.
For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note .
See The Chancery Records Index to find the chancery records of additional Virginia localities.
Index Terms
- Spotsylvania County (Va.) Circuit Court.
- African Americans--History.
- Business enterprises--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Debt--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Divorce suits--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Equity--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Estates (Law)--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Land subdivision--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Spotsylvania County(Va.)--Genealogy.
- Spotsylvania County(Va.)--History.
- Chancery causes--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Deeds--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Judicial records--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Land records--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Local government records--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Plats--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
- Wills--Virginia--Spotsylvania County.
Corporate Names:
Subjects:
Geographical Names:
Genre and Form Terms:
Significant Places Associated With the Collection
- Spotsylvania County(Va.)--Genealogy.
- Spotsylvania County(Va.)--History.
Selected Suits of Interest
Infant's guardian requests the sale of a slave named Henry who has a "vicious character" and is currently in jail for assaulting a white person.
A colored married couple, Sally and Henry Coleman, a former slave, owned a tract of land. Following Henry's death, the family members sued to divide and sale the land. The parcel of land is called the Sally Ham tract (Ham the maiden name of Sally.) The property is located on the "mineral belt" adjacent to Mitchel Gold.
Divorce case of Peter Allan against his spouse who deserted him before the marriage could be consummated. She married the plaintiff at the age of 16 or 17 years old and he was 26 years old. Mary's mother stated that she named her daughter Virgin Mary. In the divorce case, the defendant is referred to as Virgin Mary or the alias of Virgin Mary Stewart or Virgin Mary Jordan. These names are what Mary later decided to call herself. Peter Allan made several attempts to get the defendant to move back home with him which she refused to do because he was "very mean" to her and she stated to her mother that she would never return to him.
The petitioner and other landowners in the county of Spotsylvania wanted permission to allow acces of an "Electric Tram Way" through their lands. The proposed route for the tram would be from Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville along the right of way of the turnpike from Chancellorsville to the Orange line near the Wilderness Store.