Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Patrons are to use digital images of James City County/Williamsburg Chancery Causes found on the Chancery Records Index available electronically at the website of the Library of Virginia.

Preferred Citation

Nottoway County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1818-1932 (bulk 1866-1932). (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local government records collection, Nottoway County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 23219.

Acquisition Information

Digital images were generated by Crowley Micrographics through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program.

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.

Nottoway County was named for the Nottoway River or for the Nottoway Indian tribe. The county was formed from Amelia County by a statue adopted on 22 December 1788 to take effect 1 May 1789.

Many records were destroyed or heavily mutilated in 1865 by Union troops during the Civil War. A few volumes that record deeds, court orders, and wills exist.

Scope and Content

Nottoway County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1818-1932 (bulk 1866-1932), 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.

Related Material

Additional Nottoway 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 to search for chancery suits of additional Virginia localities.

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

Corporate Names:

• Nottoway County (Va.) Circuit Court

Subjects:

• African Americans--History
• Business enterprises--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Debt--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Divorce suits--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Equity--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Estates (Law)--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Free African Americans--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Land subdivision--Virginia--Nottoway County.

Geographical Names:

• Nottoway County (Va.)--Genealogy
• Nottoway County (Va.)--History

Genre and Form Terms:

• Chancery causes--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Deeds--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Judicial records--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Land records--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Plats--Virginia--Nottoway County.
• Wills--Virginia--Nottoway County.

Adjunct Descriptive Data