Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Washington   County   (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1849-1913. (Cite style of suit and chancery index no.). Local Government Records Collection, Washington   Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfer of court papers from Washington   County   under the accession number 40995.

Backstage Library Services generated digital images from microfilm reels of the collection funded by the 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.

Washington   County   was named for George Washington   who had been commander in chief of the Continental army for little more than a year when the county   was formed from Fincastle County   in 1776. The county   court first met on 28 January 1777. A part of Montgomery County   was added in 1777.

Minute books for the periods 1787-1819 and 1821-1837 and many loose papers were lost in a courthouse fire set by Union soldier James Wyatt on 15 December 1864 during the Civil War. Wyatt, who was raised in Washington   County  , sought revenge for what he claimed was a wrong done against him by a county   court judge before the war.

Scope and Content

Washington   County   (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1849-1913, 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 Washington   County   Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. See A Guide to Virginia County   and City Records on Microfilm

Washington   County   is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional Washington   County Court Records may be found in the Virginia Lost Records Localities Collection at the Library of Virginia. Search the Lost Records Localities Database found at the Library of Virginia web site.

See the Chancery Records Index to find the chancery records of additional Virginia localities.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Washington   County   (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

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

Geographical Names:

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

Genre and Form Terms:

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

Adjunct Descriptive Data