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Divorce suit. John A Shackleford sought a divorce against his second wife, Clementine Shackleford (Marshall) on the grounds of adultery. Depositions given by midwife Lucy Rives and neighbor F. M. Wells provide details on the accusations made by Shackleford against his wife who had allegedly given birth to an interracial daughter. (Both plaintiff and defendant were presumed to be white). In their respective testimonies, Rives recalled her experience in assisting with the birth of this child and Wells recounted a conversation with Clementine Shackleford regarding the possible paternity of the baby. According to the final decree, Clementine Shackleford failed to make any court appearances and to provide an answer to her husband's bill. Instead, on the back of a deposition notice, there appears to be a signed statement giving her consent for her husband to take depositions and an assertion that she had no "intention" to "defend [her] conduct." A note by the court discusses what Virginia law required for a divorce on the grounds of adultery at that time.

Plaintiffs Noah Jackson and his wife, Louisa Tyree sought to settle a contract made in May 1860 with D. H. E. Saunders and John Simpson. Jackson and Tyree assert that they had entered into a formal agreement with Saunders and Simpson that arranged for Jackson, who had been formally enslaved by Saunders at that time, to be sold to Simpson under the mutual understanding of all parties that Jackson would live a free man. Moreover, that their contract would allow Jackson to trade as a freeman and to remain in the Commonwealth for as long as he personally desired to do so. Tyree, a freewoman at the time, put her house and lot in Charlottesville up as security for this contract. According to the bill, the plaintiffs were unaware prior to 1868 that their contract did not legally provide those rights and privileges to Jackson; the very condition that was their primary motivation for entering into such a formal agreement with Saunders and Simpson in the first place.