Search

James City County/Williamsburg (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1799-1967, 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.

James City County/Williamsburg (Va.) Records, circa 1831-1959, undated, consist of the following series: Bonds/Commissions/Oaths, Business Records, County/City Administrative Records (subfield series include Commissioner of the Revenue Records, Board of Supervisors Records: Road and Bridge Records and Sheriff's Records), Fiduciary Records, Tax and Fiscal Records, Miscellaneous Records, Public Buildings and Ground Records, Court Records (subfield series include Chancery Records, Clerks' Records, Court Finance and Criminal Records.)

James City County/Williamsburg (Va.) Tax Books, 1768-1769 were eighteenth century volumes originally kept by the county sheriff for tax purposes. These volumes are comprised of tax accounts and receipts. Similar to early Virginia tax records, the volume contains a small booklet of manuscript lists that record the names of property owners arranged, for the most part, by the initial letter of the surname. These accounts record the tax on the number of tithes, personal property, muster fines, the county levy, land tax and various other taxable fees. The receipts given by the sheriff or deputy sheriff indicate how the account was settled--through payment of cash, tobacco or insolvency. When creating the photostatic copy, these two volumes were bound into one volume titled "James City County Tax Book, 1768-1769."