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| Sally Grimes, daughter of Gabriel Winston |
Kinships
Named: Parents and Maiden Names
As
family researchers and genealogists, one of our common brick-walls is a result of
the lack of resources to confirm kinships. Familiar relationships, parents’
names, maiden names are all needed to
complete family units, but what happens when we’ve exhausted all the normal
resources - census, wills/probates, deeds, vital records, church records…etc.?
Well, hopefully the researcher has not overlooked Chancery Records when they
are available.
What are Chancery Court Records?
Chancery
Court records hold a wealth of genealogical information. Although not
necessarily a part of every states’ historical legal system, when available it
will behoove the researcher to take more than a cursory glance at these genealogical-rich
documents. Researchers will find personal
testimonies that include family relationships. In some states (i.e. Virginia,
Tennessee, etc) chancery court records are available from the early 18th
century through early 1900’s. In Virginia alone there are over 233,000 multi-paged
cases. More on Virginia Chancery Courts can be found at this informative piece on ancestry.com.
What
is Next Friend?
Of
course the key to understanding any court record relies on period vocabulary.
In the Chancery Court record of Sally Grimes of Hanover County, VA vs. Joseph
Grimes, Sally’s father Gabriel Winston is identified as both “father” and “next
friend.”
A
next friend can be considered the person who represents and speaks on behalf of
the plaintiff. The next friend may be a parent, a guardian, an older sibling ,
etc. By no means should the researcher
assume it is a parent or even a relationship. We have uncovered many next
friends proven not to be of blood relation.
In many cases the next friend is identified, removing the tempting
guessing game and solidly identifying kinships. This is most useful, when also
looking for a maiden name.
Kathleen
Brandt
Accurate,
accessible answers
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