Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Chancery Causes 1844-1932 use digital images found on the Chancery Records Index available electronically at the website of the Library of Virginia.

Chancery Causes 1933-1954 are processed and indexed information is available on the Chancery Records Index, but digital images are not available at this time. Contact Archives Research Services for availability.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions on use.

Preferred Citation

Dinwiddie County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1844-1954 (bulk 1900-1950). (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local government records collection, Dinwiddie County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

The bulk of the collection came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Dinwiddie County (Va.) in 2003 under the accession number 40725. Other records were found at the library around 2007, having arrived at the library as part of an undated accession. Additional records were transferred to the library in 2011 under the accession number 50187.

Processing Information

The bulk of Dinwiddie County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1844-1954, were processed by field processors before 2003. Additional chancery causes found at the Library of Virginia were processed by V. Brooks in 2007, and chancery causes dating from 1847-1909, transferred to the library in 2011, were processed by S. Walters in 2011.

Digital images of Chancery Causes 1844-1932 were generated by PTFS through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program in 2008.

Digital images of Chancery Causes 1847-1909 were generated by Backstage Library Works through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program in 2012.

Chancery documents transferred to the Library of Virginia under accession number 50187 and scanned at an unknown date were interfiled with the appropriate chancery causes in December 2023. The box in which they were housed, b100 (barcode 0007303315), was deleted in January 2024. They were interfiled into the following suits, which had been previously scanned: 1855-001, 1862-001, 1864-002, 1870-005, 1870-020,1874-004, 1879-004, 1880-011, 1886-018, 1887-012, 1888-002, 1890-003, 1894-004, 1897-006, 1898-009, 1900-005, 1900-006, 1906-019, and 1906-022.

Encoded by G. Crawford: May 2007; updated by C. Collins: November 2023.

Historical Information

Context for Record Type: 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; however, the judge is basing the decision on findings compiled and documented by Commissioners. 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. Chancery causes document the lived experiences of free and enslaved individuals; women; children; people living with physical disabilities or mental health struggles; people living in poverty; defunct institutions and corporate entities; or those that may not have otherwise left traditional written histories.

Locality History: Dinwiddie County was named for Robert Dinwiddie, lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1751 to 1758, and was formed from Prince George County in 1752. The county seat is Dinwiddie.

Lost Locality Note: The bulk of court records prior to 1865 were stolen, mutilated, and/or destroyed by Union troops who ransacked the courthouse during the last months of the Civil War. Post-1830 volumes such as deed books, will books, chancery order books, and marriage registers exist.

Scope and Content

Dinwiddie County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1844-1954, consists of cases concerning issues of equity brought largely by residents of the county and filed in the circuit court. These cases often involve the following actions: divisions of estates or land, disputes over wills, disputes regarding contracts, debt, divorce, and business disputes. Other less prevalent issues include freedom suits, permissions to sell property, and disputes concerning trespass. Predominant documents found in these chancery causes include bills (documents the plaintiff's complaint), answers (defendant's response to the plaintiff's complaint), decrees (court's decision), depositions, affidavits, correspondence, lists of heirs, deeds, plats, wills, records involving enslaved individuals, business records or vital statistics.

Commonly found surnames among the plaintiffs and defendants include Abernathy, Adams, Barker, Barner, Boisseau, Branch, Brown, Butterworth, Chappell, Coleman, Crowder, Dabney, Davis, Dickerson, Elder, Ford, Fraser, Gilliam, Goodwyn, Graves, Green, Hall, Hardy, Hargrave, Harrison, Hill, Hitchcock, Hobbs, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, King, Lewis, Malone, Mason, Mitchell, Moore, Pegram, Perkins, Ragsdale, Richardson, Rives, Roberts, Rose, Smith, Spain, Spiers, Taylor, Thomas, Thompson, Tucker, Vaughan, Walker, Wells, White, Williams, Williamson, Wilson, Wynn, and Young.

The Commonwealth of Virginia was involved in nine suits that ended between 1929 and 1951, while the Federal Land Bank of Baltimore was the primary plaintiff in 60 suits that ended between 1925 and 1944. Both the Manson & Shell Co. (also Manson & Shell & Co, Manson & Shell, Manson Shell & Turnbull, and Manson Shell Co. & Turnbull) and the Seaboard Airline Railway (also Seaboard Airline Railway Co.) were involved in 12 suits that ended between 1908 and 1929 and 1902 and 1946, respectively.

This collection also includes one folder of “Orphan Chancery,” which is processed but not indexed. These records contain parts, often single items, of chancery causes that could not be further identified as belonging to a certain case.

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.

These materials were scanned with the bills, answers, and decrees at the end of the case file.

Related Material

Additional unindexed post-1913 records may be available at the Dinwiddie County Circuit Court Clerk's Office.

Additional Dinwiddie 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.

Dinwiddie County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Dinwiddie County Records may be found in the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available the Library of Virginia website.

Adjunct Descriptive Data