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Patrick County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1913-1958 circa. (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local Government Records Collection, Patrick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from the city of Patrick County under accession number 50251.
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.
Patrick County, like Henry County, was named for Patrick Henry, who was the first governor of the commonwealth of Virginia. It was formed from Henry County by a statute adopted on 26 November 1790. The county court first met on 13 June 1791. Part of Henry County was added to Patrick in 1791. The county seat is Stuart.
Patrick County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1913-1958 circa, 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 causes 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.
Alphabetical by surname of plaintiff.
Additional unindexed post-1912 Patrick County chancery causes may be available at the Patrick County Circuit Court Clerk's Office.
Additional Patrick County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia web site. Consult A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm.
Digital images of pre-1913 Patrick County Chancery Causes are available on the Library of Virginia's Chancery Records Index .
See the Library of Virginia's Chancery Records Index for the chancery records of other Virginia localities.