Research


New York State Court of Chancery Register's Minute Books


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Overview of the Records

Repository:

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230

Summary:
This series consists of minute books which serve as a chronological record of the proceedings in the Court of Chancery, including cases initiated by complaint or by petition. The minutes contain summaries or full texts of motions, orders, decretal orders, and final decrees, as well as entries of other actions by the court. Series includes, for various time ranges, rough minutes, final minutes, engrossed minutes, and some loose sheets of minutes. The minutes were created and maintained by the Register.
Creator:
Title:
Chancery Register's minute books
Quantity:

9.4 cubic feet

50 volumes; 47 microfilm rolls 35mm

Inclusive Dates:
1781-1799, 1806-1829
Series Number:
J0059

Arrangement

Chronological by date of court sessions. Minute books starting May 1798 and engrossed minute books for period April 1802-September 1812 were numbered sequentially.

Scope and Content Note

This series consists of minute books which serve as a chronological record of the proceedings in the Court of Chancery, including cases initiated by complaint or by petition. The minutes contain summaries or full texts of motions, orders, decretal orders, and final decrees, as well as entries of other actions by the court. Series includes, for various time ranges, rough minutes, final minutes, engrossed minutes, and some loose sheets of minutes. The minutes were created and maintained by the Register.

The date, location, and name of the Chancellor are given for each session of the court. The names of the parties and their attorneys, summaries of motions and arguments and documents read or submitted, and actions taken by the court are recorded for cases heard at the session. The minutes include the texts or summaries of Chancellor's orders in matters before the court, including procedural orders and final determinations. Also included are the minutes of proceedings in which court officials were appointed, attorneys admitted to practice, court rules adopted, court terms scheduled, and other court business not related to cases was conducted. These minutes give a fairly detailed account of business transacted in court.

The minutes for 1781-1783 record the proceedings of Court of Chancery held in New York City with the Royal Governor acting as Chancellor. After 1779 that court co-existed with the State Court of Chancery established by the Constitution of 1777. The minutes were transferred to the Register of the State Court of Chancery in 1789 and were maintained with the later minutes of that court. There are no minutes for the state Court of Chancery for the years 1778-1783.

Series consists of loose sheets (1784-1786) and thereafter volumes. The minute books contain rough minutes, with many insertions and strikeouts (1787-1799, 1806-1808), final texts of minutes in uniform handwriting (1799-1829), and engrossed minutes (1802-1812). State Archives staff have disbound most of the bound volumes for the purpose of microfilming.

J0059-82: Volumes contain guardianship proceedings. Those found in volumes 1 (1781-1783), 1A (1784), 13 (1796), and 19 (Sept. 1806-Jan. 1808) are abstracted and indexed in Kenneth Scott, "Records of the Chancery Court Province and State of New York: Guardianships 1691-1815" (New York: 1971).

Alternate Formats Available

J0059-82: Microfilmed by New York State Archives in 1989. Microfilm starts with minutes for 1784; volume for 1781-1783 was not filmed. Microfilm copies are available at the Archives and through interlibrary loan. Minute book labeled "No. III," containing entries between Dec. 3, 1799 and Feb. 12, 1801, was microfilmed by the New York County Clerk's Office in 1958 and is not available for interlibrary loan.

J0059-17: Microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1953. The microfilm includes images of original bindings and labels that were discarded before the minute books were microfilmed by the State Archives. The GSU microfilm has been partly digitized, and the images can be accessed online at Family Search Affiliate Libraries (including the New York State Archives and New York State Library). The GSU microfilm and digital images are cataloged under the author "New York Chancery Court," microfilm roll numbers 17418-17438. Microfilm is not available for interlibrary loan.

Related Material

J0049 Register's minute books of decrees

J0069 Register's rough minute books

J0053 Register's minute books of guardians, committees, and receivers

J0072 Register's registers of causes

J0090 Register's order and minute books

Series J0095, Clerk's registers of causes

Series JN319, Register's and Assistant Register's minute books

Series JN321, Clerk's registers of causes

Series JN322, Assistant Register's rough minute books.

Other Finding Aids

Available at Repository

Alphabetical index by name of complainant or petitioner in almost volumes.

Volume list and microfilm roll list are available at the repository.

Processing Information

Engrossed minute books numbered 3, 4, and 5 were formerly cataloged as series J1059. They have been returned to series J0059, where engrossed minute books numbers 1 and 2 are filed.

J0059-82: Minute book labeled "No. III," transferred by Unified Court System in 2017, has been determined to be part of this series and was added to this accretion.

Custodial History

J0059-82: Assembled and organized by staff of the Court of Appeals, which maintained records of the Register of the Court of Chancery after the court was abolished effective July 1, 1847. The Court of Appeals placed these records on deposit at the Historical Documents Collection, Queens College, from about 1966 to 1982.

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.

Access Terms

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Detailed Description

Dates Contents Box Roll

Accretion: J0059-17
0000 1

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1781 January 24 - 1783 June 9 Chancery Minutes 1 1
1784 January 31 - 1785 October 1 Chancery Minutes 2 1
1786 March 5 - 1787 January 2 Chancery Minutes 3 1
1786 March 5 - 1787 January 2 Chancery Minutes 4 1
1787 January 17 - 1787 December 23 Chancery Minutes 5 1
1787 December 26 - 1789 January 15 Chancery Minutes 6 1
1789 February 26 - 1789 December 31 Chancery Minutes 7 1
1790 January 4 - 1789 December 31 Chancery Minutes 8 1
0000 2

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1791 January 5 - December 31 Chancery Minutes 1 2
0000 3

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1792 January 9 - 1792 December 31 Chancery Minutes 1 3
1793 January 3 - December 14 Chancery Minutes 2 3
1794 January 2 - December 1 Chancery Minutes 3 3
1795 January 3 - December 31 Chancery Minutes 4 3
0000 4

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1796 January 4 - December 31 Chancery Minutes 1 4
1797 January 5 - December 13 Chancery Minutes 2 4
1798 January 2 - May 23 Chancery Minutes 3 4
1798 May 23 - 1799 December 2 Chancery Minutes 4 4
0000 5

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1806 September 22 - 1808 January 6 Chancery Minutes 1 5
1808 January 9 - 1809 December 15 Chancery Minutes 2 5
1809 December 15 - 1811 July 1 Chancery Minutes 3 5
0000 6

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1811 July 1 - 1813 January 22 Chancery Minutes 1 6
1813 January 22 - 1814 May 24 Chancery Minutes 2 6
1814 May 25 - 1815 February 25 Chancery Minutes, Volume 9 3 6
0000 7

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1815 February 27 - 1816 February 10 Chancery Minutes, Volume 10 1 7
1816 February 12 - 1817 June 5 Chancery Minutes, Volume 11 2 7
1817 July 16 - 1818 February 28 Chancery Minutes, Volume 12 3 7
0000 8

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1818 March 2 - 1819 January 20 Chancery Minutes, Volume 13 1 8
1819 January 20 - November 15 Chancery Minutes, Volume 14 2 8
0000 9

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1819 November 15 - 1820 April 8 Chancery Minutes, Volume 15 1 9
1820 April 8 - 1821 March 26 Chancery Minutes, Volume 16 2 9
0000 10

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1821 March 27 - 1822 January 22 Chancery Minutes, Volume 17 1 10
1822 January 29 - July 1 Chancery Minutes, Volume 18 2 10
0000 11

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1822 July 8 - December 30 Chancery Minutes, Volume 19 1 11
1822 December 26 - 1823 April 9 Chancery Minutes, Volume 20 2 11
0000 12

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1823 March 25 - 1824 January 19 Chancery Minutes, Volume 21 1 12
1824 January 19 - 1824 August 4 Chancery Minutes, Volume 22 2 12
0000 13

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1824 August 30 - 1825 April 22 Chancery Minutes, Volume 23 1 13
1825 April 22 - 1826 April 5 Chancery Minutes, Volume 24 2 13
0000 14

  

Dates Contents Folder Roll
1826 April 6 - 1827 April 2 Chancery Minutes, Volume 25 1 14
1827 April 2 - 1827 October 30 Chancery Minutes, Volume 26 2 14
1828 January 28 - 1829 March 23 Chancery Rough Minutes 3 14

Accretion: J0059-82
1781-1798 May 23 Volume 1 - Volume 15 1
1798 May 23-1811 July 1 Volume 16 - Volume 21 2
1811 July 1-1818 February 6 Volume 16 - Volume 21 3
1818 March 2-1822 January 22 Volume 28 - Volume 32 4
1822 January 29-1824 August 4 Volume 33 - Volume 36 5
1824 August 13-1828 April 18 Volume 37 - Volume 41 6
1828 April 18-1829 December 31 Volume 42 - Volume 45 7