Dear Michael:I'm sure more experienced people will repond to you about the court records in Augusta. I had the opportunity to be in Augusta about two years ago. Went to the courthouse to find a number of Wills and Deeds --using Chalkley as a guide -- found everything (plus two deeds not indexed in Chalkley) -- all of these were kept in one big room. When I asked the clerk how I would find a court case [with one of those O.S. N.S. numbers [for a court case in 1811 which I knew about also from Chalkley], they send me to an office -- just across the hall -- where I asked for the file by those OS/NS numbers. The clerk took me back into a small room stacked to the ceiling with small old file boxes. Dozens of cases kept in each box. These were the original documents, folded, tied together of a lawsuit instituted in Augusta in 1825. Most of the parties did not live in Augusta at the time, but the case revolved around an 1808 Augusta estate. I was allowed to photocopy the ! entire case -- including an original 1811 letter written by a gggggg-grandfather, other documents presented as evidence in the case and the courts final judgment. You may want to try to find an Augusta researcher who you could hire to make copies of the cases you are interested in. Perhaps other people on this list know the name of the court 'across the hall' and can give better information. I don't know if it is possible to send a letter and request copies made by the clerks or not. I'm pretty sure you can do that for Wills and Deeds -- but may be wrong on that. Good luck, Carol Vass

Hi Carol, How were you able to find what you wanted among the documents in that room? I was told about those files by a researcher whom I hired in Staunton, several years ago, but she said there was no filing system for the records and that she would just have to wade through them one bundle at a time until she found what I wanted. She never was able to do the digging for me because she passed away shortly after I hired her. Ever since then I have been hoping that someone - maybe the genealogical and/or historical society - would organize everything and (maybe) microfilm it all so that it could be easily used by everyone. That room has to be one big GOLD MINE! (I got the impression that there might be more stuff stacked, in a similar way, down in a basement of the courthouse -but I could be wrong about that.) I am looking for the estate papers and some related lawsuits for Jacob Goodpasture in 1766-67. I have some of the papers but not nearly all of them. Norman ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 8:35 AM Subject: [VAAUGUST] Court records in Augusta > Dear Michael:I'm sure more experienced people will repond to you about the court records in Augusta. I had the opportunity to be in Augusta about two years ago. Went to the courthouse to find a number of Wills and Deeds --using Chalkley as a guide -- found everything (plus two deeds not indexed in Chalkley) -- all of these were kept in one big room. When I asked the clerk how I would find a court case [with one of those O.S. N.S. numbers [for a court case in 1811 which I knew about also from Chalkley], they send me to an office -- just across the hall -- where I asked for the file by those OS/NS numbers. The clerk took me back into a small room stacked to the ceiling with small old file boxes. Dozens of cases kept in each box. These were the original documents, folded, tied together of a lawsuit instituted in Augusta in 1825. Most of the parties did not live in Augusta at the time, but the case revolved around an 1808 Augusta estate. I was allowed to photocopy the ! > entire case -- including an original 1811 letter written by a gggggg-grandfather, other documents presented as evidence in the case and the courts final judgment. > You may want to try to find an Augusta researcher who you could hire to make copies of the cases you are interested in. Perhaps other people on this list know the name of the court 'across the hall' and can give better information. I don't know if it is possible to send a letter and request copies made by the clerks or not. I'm pretty sure you can do that for Wills and Deeds -- but may be wrong on that. > Good luck, > Carol Vass

Norman & Carol, That room "The Chancery Room" is indexed in large books by plaintiff & defendant. The records are currently being taken out of those boxes and put into archival safe boxes and folders. The first 300 or so boxes have already been done. Where they are going to be stored when the project is complete has not been answered yet. As to microfilming the records, I know that it is a very expensive endeavor and I do not think that the Historical or Gen. Society has the funds to take on such a project. If you need research done, contact the Gen. Society, by mail, with specifics and they will get back to you and let you know if they can help you. Good luck/Susie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Norman Runyon" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 2:27 PM Subject: Re: [VAAUGUST] Court records in Augusta > Hi Carol, > How were you able to find what you wanted among the documents in that > room? I was told about those files by a researcher whom I hired in Staunton, > several years ago, but she said there was no filing system for the records > and that she would just have to wade through them one bundle at a time until > she found what I wanted. She never was able to do the digging for me because > she passed away shortly after I hired her. Ever since then I have been > hoping that someone - maybe the genealogical and/or historical society - > would organize everything and (maybe) microfilm it all so that it could be > easily used by everyone. That room has to be one big GOLD MINE! (I got the > impression that there might be more stuff stacked, in a similar way, down in > a basement of the courthouse -but I could be wrong about that.) > I am looking for the estate papers and some related lawsuits for Jacob > Goodpasture in 1766-67. I have some of the papers but not nearly all of > them. > Norman > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 8:35 AM > Subject: [VAAUGUST] Court records in Augusta > > > > Dear Michael:I'm sure more experienced people will repond to you about the > court records in Augusta. I had the opportunity to be in Augusta about two > years ago. Went to the courthouse to find a number of Wills and > Deeds --using Chalkley as a guide -- found everything (plus two deeds not > indexed in Chalkley) -- all of these were kept in one big room. When I > asked the clerk how I would find a court case [with one of those O.S. N.S. > numbers [for a court case in 1811 which I knew about also from Chalkley], > they send me to an office -- just across the hall -- where I asked for the > file by those OS/NS numbers. The clerk took me back into a small room > stacked to the ceiling with small old file boxes. Dozens of cases kept in > each box. These were the original documents, folded, tied together of a > lawsuit instituted in Augusta in 1825. Most of the parties did not live in > Augusta at the time, but the case revolved around an 1808 Augusta estate. I > was allowed to photocopy the ! > > entire case -- including an original 1811 letter written by a > gggggg-grandfather, other documents presented as evidence in the case and > the courts final judgment. > > You may want to try to find an Augusta researcher who you could hire to > make copies of the cases you are interested in. Perhaps other people on > this list know the name of the court 'across the hall' and can give better > information. I don't know if it is possible to send a letter and request > copies made by the clerks or not. I'm pretty sure you can do that for Wills > and Deeds -- but may be wrong on that. > > Good luck, > > Carol Vass > > > ==== VAAUGUST Mailing List ==== > **************************************************************** > List Administrator > Barbara Stanley - [email protected] > **************************************************************** >