A Guide to the Portsmouth (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1859-1932 (bulk 1890-1913)
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
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Library of Virginia
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© 2009 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: L. Jones
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Portsmouth Chancery Causes, 1859-1932 (bulk 1890-1913) digital images Chancery Records Index available electronically at the website of the Library of Virginia.
Use Restrictions
No restrictions on use.
Preferred Citation
Portsmouth (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1859-1932 (bulk 1890-1913). (Cite style of suit). Local Government Records Collection, Portsmouth Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 23219.
Acquisition Information
These materials came to the Library of Virginia in transfer of court papers from Portsmouth in 2006 under accession number 42761.
Processing Information
These records were mostly processed in 2007-2008 by L. Jones.
Digital images were generated by OCLC through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program in 2009.
Encoded by G. Crawford: 2009; updated by E. Swain: June 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.
Types of Courts: The Hustings Court was the city equivalent of the County Court. It was dissolved in 1904 and its functions were assumed by the Circuit Court.
Locality History: Portsmouth was located in Norfolk County, which is now extinct. It was named by its founder, William Crawford, for the English seaport and was established in 1752. Portsmouth was incorporated as a town in 1836 and as a city in 1858.
Scope and Content
Portsmouth (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1859-1932 (bulk 1890-1913), 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.
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 generally as follows: Bill, Answer, and Final Decree (if found).
Related Material
Additional Portsmouth Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."
Selected Suits of Interest
Causes of Interest are identified by local records archivists during processing and indexing. These causes are generally selected based upon guiding principles of having historical, genealogical or sensational significance; however, determining what is “of interest” is subjective, and the individual perspective and experience of the describing archivist will affect the material identified.
Virginus Hayes came home from the Civil War and found his wife pregnant. The depositions include reports of his life in the Army. There is a report on divorce laws in other states.
Fanny Umstadter and her husband sold the Congregation land for a cemetery and after his death, she found her key did not work to enter the cemetery. She hired a lock smith to cut open the lock and the blacksmith was being tried in Norfolk County Court for breaking and entering.
Louise W. Hartt signs a power of attorney to Thomas W. Peirce of Norfolk, Virginia. She lives in the Kingdom of Saxony, City of Dresden.
This suit has a deposition by Ann Majette, a formerly enslved woman. Ann references enslaved individuals she knew prior to the 1831 Nat Turner Rebellion [Southampton Insurrection] which the deponent called "Nat's War." She also talks about her family. The suit contains extensive genealogyof enslaved persons and references to slave trading.
Margaret was a formerly enslaved women living with George Ricks (Rix) and according to her relative was married to him under the law 1873 (Section 4, Chapter 103, Code of 1873). They are trying to get out of paying her doctor's bills.
Harry and Mirel were married in Kovne, Keidan, Russia. Harry came to the United States in 1904 and has sent tickets for his wife to come to the United States. She refuses to come so he divorced her.
The letter concerns paying Mr. Richardson's debts and dividing his estate among his relatives on his mother's and father's side of his family. Exhibit D with the depositions is a letter from Enigal, Gawagh, County Derry, Ireland from Thomas Boyle. Since there are no entries in the church registers before 1846, he talks about the inscriptions on tombstones instead. He also talked to people in the community about the McCredy family. There are other letters about the McCredy family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and other states.
George, Jr. was the son of George, Sr., a free Black man and an enslaved woman. George, Jr. was trying to prove he was a legitimate son of George, Sr.
Evidence for the divorce included 6 pictures of women. One picture is on tin and one has been painted so that the flowers on the hat are pink and yellow.