Westmoreland County, Virginia Loose Chancery Papers: 1804-1864. Transcribed by Elizabeth Nuckols Lee. 2004.
The majority of suits deal with the division of real and personal property of a decedent, when minor children were involved. This was the case when a person had many children over a long period of time, a person had been married more than once, or when an adult child was also deceased and had minor children. The law required that minor children be protected. Suits had to be brought to guarantee that protection. As a result, some chancery bills contain as many as four or five generations of a family. In 1873, many old pending suits were dismissed or discontinued.
107-Wecp
