Cavaliers and Pioneers (VA-NOTES)

For anyone whose research takes them into seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Virginia, Nell Marion Nugent's three-volume Cavaliers and Pioneers is an indispensable source. These abstracts of the records of the colonial land office cover the years from 1623 to 1666 (Volume 1), from 1666 to 1695 (Volume 2), and from 1695 to 1732 (Volume 3). Dennis Ray Hudgins, in collaboration with The Virginia Genealogical Society, has edited additional volumes under the same title which brings the series to 1774 and the end of the forty-two volume colonial patent book series.

Nugent's first volume was published in 1934 and has since been reprinted, most recently in 1992. The second and third volumes, although abstracted during the 1930s, were not published initially until 1977 and 1979. All three were published by The Library of Virginia and are available individually or as a set. Volumes four through seven are published by the Virginia Genealogical Society, and all volumes are available through The Virginia Shop.

The abstract of each patent gives, in order, the name of the patentee, the number of acres in the patent, the county in which the land was situated at the time the patent was issued, the date of the patent, the book and page of recordation, a description of the location of the land, and, if applicable, the names of the persons on the basis of whose transportation the patent was due. Any additional information contained within the patent is also abstracted. The index includes all proper personal names as well as geographical designations.

Patents issued for land in the Northern Neck, or Fairfax, Proprietary are not included in this series of records.

The patent and grant books of the Virginia Land Office are available online.

An online series on Research in Virginia Documents. Prepared by Daphne Gentry, Publications and Education Services Division. Copyright by The Library of Virginia; this note may be reproduced in full if proper credit is given and no changes are made.