Augusta County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1746-1944 (bulk 1830-1912)

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

Chancery Causes 1746-1912 use digital images found on the Chancery Records Index available electronically at the website of the Library of Virginia.

The majority of Chancery Causes 1913-1944 are unprocessed. Contact Archives Research Services for availability.

Some chancery causes that ended between 1913-1928 are processed and indexed information is available on the Chancery Records Index, but digital images are not available at this time. Contact Archives Research Services for availability.

Several chancery causes that ended between 1918-1937 are processed, but indexed information and digital images are not available at this time. Contact Archives Research Services for availability.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions on use.

Preferred citation:

Augusta County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1746-1944 (bulk 1830-1912). (Cite style of suit [and chancery index no. if available]). Local government records collection, Augusta County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Creator:
Augusta County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Augusta County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1746-1944 (bulk 1830-1912). (Cite style of suit [and chancery index no. if available]). Local government records collection, Augusta County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Augusta County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1746-1944, 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.

While there are several suits concerning the freedom of enslaved individuals, these cases largely represent the perspective of white enslavers and their disputes involving the sale, hiring, financial responsibilities, and legality of ownership of Black individuals. Under the system of chattel slavery, laws permitted enslavers to treat enslaved people as personal possessions in the same manner as livestock, farm equipment, or household items.

Several suits passingly reference contact between Indigenous communities and white settlers [1768-003, 1768-008, 1770-003, 1810-031, 1811-008, 1814-060, 1823-070]. Frequently characterized as violent, these interactions are indicative of the conflict that often accompanied westward expansion and migration. Additionally, a number of suits concern property disputes involving land grants and patents awarded for military service [1805-043, 1806-059, 1807-006, 1807-036, 1810-031, 1810-138, 1814-060, 1855-034].

Commonly found surnames among the plaintiffs and defendants include Adams, Alexander, Allen, Anderson, Armstrong, Bailey, Baylor, Beard, Bell, Berry, Beverley (also spelled Beverly), Borden, Bowyer, Brooks, Brown, Bumgardner, Byers, Campbell, Carson, Carter, Christian, Churchman, Clarke, Cochran, Coffman, Coiner, Craig, Crawford, Curry, Davis, Donaghe, Dunlap, Eidson, Engleman, Evans, Garber, Gibson, Graham, Greaver, Grove, Hall, Hamilton, Hanger, Harman, Harris, Harrison, Hays, Hite, Hogshead, Hull, Hunter, Imboden, Jackson, Johnson, Johnston, Jones, Kennedy, Kerr, King, Kinney, Koiner, Landes, Lewis, Long, Martin, Mathews (also spelled Matthews), McChesney, McClure, McComb, McCormick, McCue, Miller, Mitchell, Moore, Morris, Myers, Nelson, Palmer, Patterson, Paul, Peck, Poage, Preston, Rankin, Reed, Robertson, Ross, Scott, Sheets, Smith, Snyder, Steele, Stout, Stuart, Taylor, Thompson, Walker, Watson, White, Williams, Wilson, Wood, Woods, Wright, and Young.

The National Valley Bank of Staunton is involved in 24 suits between 1873 and 1906; the Waynesboro Company is involved in 17 suits between 1892 and 1896; the West Waynesboro Land Company is involved in 17 suits between 1893 and 1897; and the Staunton Land Company is involved in 22 suits between 1894 and 1912.

These records contain 3 boxes of “Orphan Chancery,” including a box of chancery slips that indicated a case was removed from the clerk’s office, which are processed but not indexed. These records contain parts, often single items, of chancery causes that could not be further identified as belonging to a certain case.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Locality History: Augusta County was named for Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, who married Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and was the mother of King George III. It was formed from Orange County by a statute of 1738 that stipulated that when the population was large enough the new county government would begin to function. The county court first met on 9 December 1745. The county courthouse is in Staunton, and the county administrative offices are in Verona.

Court History: Augusta County was the site of a Superior Court of Chancery that held court in Staunton from 1802 to 1832. The Superior Courts of Chancery were created by an act of the General Assembly passed on 23 January 1802. In order to expedite the hearing of chancery suits, the High Court of Chancery was abolished, and the state was divided into three chancery districts with a Superior Court of Chancery for each district. For this reason, these courts were sometimes called "District Courts of Chancery." Suits heard in these courts were typically cases appealed from the local courts. A transcript of the suit from the local court was commonly filed with the appeal. Litigants could by-pass the local courts and file their suits in the chancery district court directly. Of the three original Superior Courts of Chancery - Staunton, Richmond (City), and Williamsburg - only the records of the Staunton district remain.

Court History: From 1802 to 1812, the Staunton district consisted of localities found in the western half of the Commonwealth including the ones in present day West Virginia: Augusta, Bath, Berkeley, Botetourt, Brooke, Frederick, Grayson, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hardy, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lee, Monongalia, Monroe, Montgomery, Ohio, Pendleton, Randolph, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Russell, Shenandoah, Tazewell, Washington, Wood, and Wythe counties. In 1812, the General Assembly created additional Superior Courts of Chancery which reduced the number of localities in the Staunton district to the following: Albemarle, Amherst, Augusta, Bath, Botetourt, Cabell, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Mason, Monroe, Nelson, Pendleton, Rockbridge, and Rockingham counties.

Acquisition information:

These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Augusta County (Va.) in 2007 under accession numbers 43054, 43167, and 43449; in 2008 under accession numbers 43608 and 43809; and in 2010 under accession number 45018. Additional records came to the library in 2013 under accession number 50886 and in 2018 under accession number 52248.

Items purchased from the American West Archives and Philenor Rare Books came to the library in 2003 under accession number 40899 and in 2006 under accession number 42948, respectively.

Processing information:

Chancery Causes 1746-1912 were processed by C. OBrion, C. Freed, S. Bagley, C. Underwood, L. Jones, D. Dulaney, B. Helms, and M. Ball between 2007 and 2010. At this time, there are no plans to fully process, index, and digitze the post-1913 chancery causes.

Digital images of Chancery Causes 1746-1912 were generated by Backstage Library Works through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program in 2011, with additional funds provided by the National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Item previously cataloged as “Augusta County (Va.) Deposition from a Chancery Suit, William Scott, etc. vs. Robert Harnsbarger” under accession number 42948 has been interfiled in Chancery Cause 1839-023: William Scott, etc. vs. Robert Hansbarger, etc., by C. Collins: 2024.

Item previously cataloged as “Augusta County (Va.) Chancery Answer, Fultz v. Strain” under accession number 40899 has been interfiled in Chancery Cause 1862-004: David Fultz vs. Boyd Porter, etc.

Encoded by G. Crawford: 2012; updated by C. Collins: May 2024.

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.

of documents within each folder are as follows: Bill, Answer, and Final Decree (if found.)

The majority of Chancery Causes 1913-1944 are unprocessed. Contact Archives Research Services for availability.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
Digital images; 464.155 cubic feet (1,018 boxes)