Lake County, Ohio Chancery Court Records

Chancery Court:This is a court of equity – deciding how to make circumstances fair for all.

The Indexing Process: The indexing of this project was done by Margaret Frank from NorthEast Ohio Computer-Aided Genealogical Society and Lake County Genealogical Society. It was proofread with names added by Cynthia Turk.

Types of Cases:

• Divorce often includes children’s names and ages and sometimes dates and places of birth. It almost always has date and place of marriage, and, although rarely, a maiden name for the wife. Residence of the parties is given.
• Petition to Partition is a case where two or more people own property in common and they are asking the court to divide the property fairly. Widow’s dowry is considered. This often happens when property is willed to several heirs. Master Commissioners of the court do the division after the appraisal is done. Sometimes a sketch of the property with its partitions is shown. These cases are rich in family names and relationships.
• Petition to Sell Land is often done by minor heirs’ guardians to sell the property for money for the children’s future. If there is a widow, her dower is also calculated. These usually include the children’s ages, relationships, parentage, etc. The court will assign an appraiser and then order the property sold. Complete descriptions of the land, just like deeds, are given with neighbors and previous owners.
• Chancery for Debts are often very complex, requesting that the court order land or property be sold or order certain people to pay their debt. Often the Plaintiff knows of land that has been fraudulently sold, often to a close relative to hide it from creditors.
• Chancery for Deedsis done when a property is sold or bargained, but the deed was never executed. The court decides the veracity of the deal and orders a deed be created for the new owner.
• Mandates from other Courts is a case where an order was made but someone thinks it is unfair, or refuses or is unable to pay the ordered amount or property. In these cases, most often the court sides with the previous court.
• Insolvency, usually of an estate, requests the court to decide who gets paid what when there is not enough to pay all the creditors, mortgages, and other debts.

These same records have been microfilmed and digitized twice, and can be found on FamilySearch. https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/365751?availability=Family%20History%20Library . The second filming is easier to read. DGS Film numbers are 8704765 for volumes A and B and 008704767 for volumes C and D. The collection is called “Common Pleas chancery record, 1840-1852,” although it actually runs through May of 1856.

Record Idiosyncrasies: The FamilySearch images include the volume covers and the indexes in the beginning of each volume, where the Court copy does not.

The Court copy of volume D is missing pages 74 to 93. They are included in both filmings at FamilySearch. (Image 451 of DGS #008704767)

These records are all handwritten, in old script. They have the old slanted r which looks like an n, slanted w which looks like an m, and the double s which looks like a p. Additionally, J and I are usually the same, so middle initials are difficult to get from context. Name spellings were not always correct, either.

The dates on these cases are the term of the court when the case was finalized. Most all of the cases were started before this date, and many even years before.

Warnings about this index: This index should not be used alone, but as a pointer to the actual records. It is not an every-name index. It does not include the sheriff, judges, the court clerk, court employees, the Master Commissioners, or the appraisers appointed by the court. It sometimes does include guardians ad litum appointed by the court if they seemed like maybe relatives. A few lawyers were included, especially in volume A, but not as a rule. Names from property descriptions like neighbors and previous owners were not included.

In an attempt to make this index more useful, many family names and others involved in the case were added. Et al. was replaced by the names for which it stood. In divorce cases, the names of the children were added with the plaintiff. Many names may be in the wrong column, usually listed as Defendants, often when they were not even involved with the case, so as to include family members to easier identify one’s research subject. Many spouses, children, and deceased persons are added who may not belong there. Use caution with this work, and read the actual case to determine the realities.

Supreme Court Chancery Court: Records from the court were more recently added to the collection at the Clerk of Courts’ Site, but are not yet indexed here.

Using the Index Browse the index with all the names in one column. Note the volume and page number. All names with the same page number are from the same case. Then go to the appropriate chronological volume to look at the names and more. Then go to the records to read the actual case.