Benjamin F. and Rebecca M. Carter (my 1st cousin 5 times removed) - Defendants

This is just a small decision in a case brought against Rebecca and her husband. Basically, it just decides that the whole case should be tried in state court, rather than allowing one person to have just that part of the case pertaining to them tried in federal court. It looks like they would have gotten their way, except the law that permitted such separation was repealed. This issue was part of a case by creditors of Benjamin and Rebecca seeking to sell the land in order to pay their debt to them (the Atlantic and Virginia Fertilizer Company). I just think this is a great example of how you can find genealogy information in sources you might not have thought about. For instance, if you were looking for a death date for someone, this would help establish that it was probably after the date the suit was brought. It also establishes that Benjamin and Rebecca lived in Virginia, it gives information on property that they owned as well as leased to a company Rebecca and Benjamin say that the Marble company defaulted on its lease and therefore forfeited the rights established by the lease.), and the fact that they needed to sell that land in order to pay their creditor. Since we know who the creditor was, we can surmise what sort of business they were in (farming of some sort), and due to the company they leased to leasing the property to develop a quarry, we can also know more about the land they owned.