Library of Virginia
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Processed by: John Hopewell and Louise Jones
There are no restrictions.
There are no restrictions.
Southampton County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1749-1912. (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local government records collection, Southampton County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfer of court papers from Southampton County.
Backstage Library Services generated digital images from microfilm reels of the collection funded by the Circuit Court Records Preservation program.
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.
Southampton County was named, in the opinion of many authorities, for Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton and treasurer of the Virginia Company of London from 1620 to 1624. It is more likely, however, that the county was named for the borough of Southampton in England. Southampton County was formed in 1749 from Isle of Wight County, and part of Nansemond County was added in 1786. The county seat is Courtland.
Southampton County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1749-1912, are indexed into the 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.
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.)
Additional Southampton County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. See A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm
See the Chancery Records Index to search for chancery suits of additional Virginia localities.