I know more about North Carolina law than Virginia, but NC law echoed VA law a great deal. And I think the handling of the situation was pretty universal. From my research, guardians were only appointed in court when there was an inheritance at stake, and the issue was not resolved in a last will and testament. A minor child would need someone to handle business affairs for that inheritance until he or she was capable of taking over management of their own inheritance. I descend from the Madison family, and my ancestors (in Virginia) were given guardians to handle their inheritance until they were old enough to take over their affairs. I believe that, at the age of 14, a child could also choose his or her own guardian, so the issue of whether the child's preference was consulted can also give you a clue or additional proof as to age of the child. A child could hold and even buy land before the age of majority, but generally an individual could only sell land at age 21. These matters should be in the court documents of the appropriate county. The specific instance in my family was in the court order book of Lunenburg County in 1757. Laws do change over time, but I doubt that form of the law changed much between the 1700's and the 1800's. Katherine Benbow