Freedom suit. See also Franklin County judgments 1808 April Nanny Pegee etc vs. John Hook and Zachariah Stanley . Suit originated in Montgomery County, ended in Franklin County then appealed beyond. Nanny Pegee and her family achieved freedom. See the Finding Aid for Franklin County for more information on the suit.

In this freedom suit, Rachel Viney alleged she was descended from Native Americans and therefore should not be enslaved. The cause originated in Northumberland County.

In his 1814 will, Isaac H. Coles left his two estates, Dan River estate and Bucksin property, and the enslaved people that worked the properties to two different heirs. A dispute over the estate arose over which enslaved persons worked at which estate. An extensive list of enslaved names included in the suit has names, ages, occupations, and locations.

Reed Wright hired out Venus, an enslaved woman slave to Lawson Dunnington with the stipulation that after the terms of the contract were fulfilled, Venus wass to be emancipated. However, Dunnington planned to leave the state with Venus; Wright filed his suit in the Chancery Court to ensure that his hire arrangement and Venus' eventual emancipation were ensured.

John Craig requested an injunction to prevent the opening of new stone quarry (for construction of Turnpike Road). Two existing quarries were already an immediate danger to his family and the enslaved people on his property due to falling rocks and Craig claimed the new quarry would mean his blacksmith shop would be "blown to bits." An injunction was issued but the case was dismissed once a settlement was reached.

Letitia Floyd was the wife of former Virginia governor John Floyd and the mother of John B. Floyd. She brought suit over Susanna Preston's (her mother's) estate. James Patton Preston, her brother, also served as governor.

A series of freedom suits which were all heard together. The causes hinged on descent from a common ancestor, named Flora, as well as an enslaved person, who was "carried off from Massachusetts," freed in Connecticut, then sold illegally into slavery from New York. The cases include a letter from the clerk of Roanoke County which said he felt some of the papers in the causes may have been deliberately mislaid. The plaintiffs do not seem to have achieved their freedom.

The suit involved the possession and potential sale of Solitude, a farm located at Virginia Tech which was also the oldest building on campus.

Includes patents from U.S. Patent Office for a "Telegraph Water Carrier" and a comparable invention; the case involved a dispute over the ability to market the patent in southwestern Virginia.

Includes two related cases in which the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Company asked for an injunction to prevent the local impressment agent from impressing wheat owned by the company (purchased from local farmers). Local agent wanted to use wheat to provide food for indigent wives and children of Confederate soldiers in the county; railroad company needed the grain to feed enslaved people and free African Americans working on the rail line. A complaint given by the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Company stated the agent used armed force to impress grain.

James P. Hammett requested an injunction to prevent a Confederate Army warehouse from being built on his property in Central Depot (Radford). Includes answer from Major General John Breckinridge and engineer's report with plat of land in question.

The suit was a request by Lewis F.J. Amiss for an injunction to prevent Major Thomas L. Brown, a Confederate Quartermaster, from seizing his garden for use as a Confederate Hospital at White Sulphur Springs in Montgomery County.

This contract suit contains numerous depositions from Montgomery, Roanoke, and Wythe county residents who were testifying to land values in the area and the postwar economy.

This business dispute includes depositions which discussed the price of whiskey during the Civil War and the value assigned to the labor of enslaved people in building the distillery business.

The cause originiated from Radford (Central Depot), J. Lawrence Radord asked for an injunction to prevent a house on his property from being used as a hospital for smallpox patients.

A debt suit which referenced enslaved persons and debts accrued during the Civil War. The cause originated with R.J. Foster, and Co, merchant company in Richmond and the defendant is Henry Edward Decie, who sold a yacht, the America to the Confederacy and then served as its captain running the blockade during 1861. He also may have been a con-artist and had considerable debts to local citizens. Auction schedule is extensive and offers view of the size of his estate.

The cause included information on the settlement of Captain Jacob Kent's estate (Kentland and other land as well as enslaved persons and stock in Montgomery White Sulphur Springs). An 1859 appraisement included a list of enslaved persons divided into family groupings. Several pieces of evidence also included references to Kent's heirs wishing to avoid a public sale of enslaved persons and preferred the land be sold instead. The cause was brought against Elizabeth Gibboney, the wife of Robert Gibboney Robert Gibboney was the deceased adminstrator of the Kent estate, who had died fifteen years after the estate was settled. SEE ALSO: Montogmery County Chancery cause 1880-028.

Matilda M. Roat wished to use estate funds to attend Marion Female Academy. Deposition references what she had studied, what she would study, and why she wanted to continue her education in spite of previously being trained in the trade of dressmaker.

A divorce suit that delved into issues of drug (morphine or opium) abuse and domestic abuse of both spouse and children.

A debt suit which included a commissioners report makes mention of land belonging to George Washington that sat adjacent to the Methodist E. Church (South) Cemetery. Sections of adjoining lands had been sold for burial of African Americans, and Montgomery County sought some of the land for burial of the poor.

A contract dispute which focuses on whether James F. Martin and Ida Baker Martin had a living child or one born dead. Many depositions center on her pregnancy and premature birth which resulted in the death of both her and the child and then what happened to the child after its death.

Mollie L. Garrison filed for divorce from her husband William Garrison on the grounds of desertion. Garrison was on the run for rape and attempted murder. Included in the casefile is a broadside from Roanoke City offering reward for his capture.

An injunction was filed to stop construction of a water gate. The depositions provide information about downtown Christiansburg in the early 1900s. They provided descriptions of buildings and terrain, including the presence of a stream running through town. They also referenced a fire that consumed many town buildings.

The cause is concerned with debts incurred to the various contractors responsible for construction at the Christiansburg Industrial Institute, founded after the Civil War to aid African American students.

In this divorce suit, Agnes Schaub described her married life to Floyd Schaub. Agnes ran away to Bristol at the age of 15 in order to get married to Floyd. The couple moved around a bit before ending up in a coal camp in Switchback, West Virginia. Schaub is described as "more fiend than man" and left Agnes to her own devices when she came down with typhoid. Agnes recalled that without the intervention of the Hungarians in the camp, she would have died. Deposition by her mother mentions Italians and African Americans in the camp.