Ohio District Court Chancery Records Vol. A, 1852-1854

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 Cynthia Turk, but not proofread.

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.

Record Idiosyncrasies: 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.

Ohio District Court Chancery Records:

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.