This dataset includes 50 TIFF files showing court orders from Lancaster County in Virginia. They were created to settle disputes between residents within Lancaster County and ultimately issue punishments to those violating laws. These documents were used to identify escaped unfree laborers in the 17th century Chesapeake and the punishments associated with their escape.
Naming conventions of files: There are 3 parts to the file naming convention of the court orders.
For example: LancasterOrders_1655-1666_0001
LancasterOrders: Identifies the county the court documents are from and the type of document
1655-1666: Identifies the timeframe in which the court documents were written
0001: Identifies the page’s position within the reel