A Guide to the York County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1768-1891 York County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1768-1891 1134299-1137581

A Guide to the York County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1768-1891

A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Barcode numbers: 1134299-1137581


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Library of Virginia

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© 2009 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Processed by: Sarah Nerney

Repository
The Library of Virginia
Barcode numbers
1134299-1137581
Title
York County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1768-1891
Physical Characteristics
7.50 cu.ft. (16 boxes)
Collector
York County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Location
Library of Virginia
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

York County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1768-1891. (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local government records collection, York County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from York County.

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.

York County originally was named Charles River County, for King Charles I, and was one of the eight shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. A record of 7 January 1634 employs the name York County, and a statute of 1643 officially changed the name to York County, probably in honor of James, duke of York, the second son of King Charles I, and later King James II. The county seat is Yorktown.

Most pre-Revolutionary War-era loose records are missing. Volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist because county court clerks removed the volumes from the courthouse for safekeeping during the Revolutionary War and Civil War.

Scope and Content

York County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1768-1891, 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.

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 York 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."

See the Chancery Records Index found on the Library of Virginia web site for the chancery records of other Virginia localities.

York County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional York 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 .

Index Terms


Adjunct Descriptive Data

Significant Places Associated With the Collection

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