Reading a chancery suit from Louisa County, I found an interesting deposition about the papers of the Louisa Clerks office after the Civil War. They were discussing a person's will and inventory of his estate as missing. Jesse J. Porter gave this deposition 27 Feb. 1877: "Q. What office do you now hold? A. Clerk of Louisa County Court. Q. Have you been clerk of the Circuit Court of Louisa Co,. if so, when did your office terminate. A. I have been and it terminated July 1, 1875 but I am still deputy clerk of said court. A. State whether you have examined recently your office and the office of the circuit court for the original will of Col. W. O. Harris, dec'd. and the appraisement of his estate. A. I have. State the result of that examination? A. I cannot find the original will of Col. W. O. Harris or the appraisement of his estate either in the county or Circuit Court clerk's office. There has been a copy of the will of Col. W. O. Harris rendered since the war but there is no record of the appraisement. A. State whether any of the records of your office and of the circuit court clerk's office were destroyed or lost during or at the close of the war and if so how and when? A. A good many of the records were missing when I took charge of the office in September 1865 and I have always heard that the records were sent to Richmond for safe keeping and that a good many of them were lost or destroyed when the city was evacuated by the Confederate forces. When I took charge of the office as Deputy clerk in Sept. as aforesaid I found a great many of the records, papers etc. connected with the office in a large miscellaneous heap. A. What became of that heap of papers? A. There were assorted over and amongst by H. W. Murray, P. W. Conner and Joseph K. Pendleton, Commissioners appointed by the county court for that purpose." In reading the chancery causes as I flat file them, I have found a number of references to the "fact" Louisa's papers were sent to Richmond for safe keeping. Since we all know Hanover's papers were destroyed when sent to Richmond for safe keeping, I can't help but marvel that Louisa's papers still are so intact. It would be interesting to learn if they were in truth sent to Richmond and if they were, how did they escape destruction. Maybe someone procrastinated and they never were sent but stayed in Louisa. The court house in Louisa was not burned but might have been ransacked. Thought this was interesting history about these valuable papers.