Finding Chancery cases

[ElizabethHerts]

Have any of you used Chancery cases in your research?

There were several such cases in my tree. One case was Stayt v Shepard. From the title you wouldn't know that it emanated from the will of Samuel Purser (married to my 3x-great-aunt Ann Jeffcoat).

The account of the Chancery case and many hours of long research before the days of the Internet are documented by Ronald Purser in his book "A Sense of Belonging", tracing his Purser family, and by association the Jeffcoat family, as three Jeffcoat women married into the Purser line.

He makes point that there must be many other Chancery cases that could reveal immensely interesting family stories - if only you could find them!

It's a shame there isn't a better indexing system for them, as many of these gems will remain on the shelves of the National Archives and not be viewed.