Because the land patents list the names of imported persons, they are the primary source for documenting early Virginia immigration. For each immigrant, the importer was entitled to a “headright” of fifty acres of land. Until the early 1700s, land was principally distributed to people who brought settlers into the colony. A few earlier patents, issued by the Virginia Company of London, were recorded or affirmed in the first volumes. The Virginia government began recording land patents around 1623 when the royal governor, as the agent of English crown, assumed control over the distribution of unappropriated land within the new colony. It includes land grants within the Northern Neck Proprietary (1690–1874) along with survey plats and accompanying papers for the Northern Neck land grants (1697–1874). This collection consists of Virginia land patents (1623–1774) and land grants (1779–February 2000).
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