"A list of all the individuals who can be documented as having lived on [Jamestown] Island between 1607 and 1699, either as land owners or as members of the House of Burgesses or as other officials is presented here"--Pref.

This book is an essential one stop shop for those interested in researching Jamestown ancestors. It contains a number of Appendices which allow the researcher to find names, places, ships of arrival and dates of arrival, death and much more. Armed with that information, descendants of Jamestown survivors will have a chronological story to help to understand what they lived through and to piece together the fabric of their ancestors' lives. Some of the most compelling and captivating stories come from history. Jamestown 1607-1624, A Chronological History and Genealogical Reference of America's First Successful Colony is presented in a storybook fashion to capture and keep the reader's attention in this fascinating story. The author has researched the Jamestown story from numerous historical sources. Many of the earliest accounts of events contain conflicting or biased information. Accounts have been compared, analyzed and presented to the reader in an objective manner which is supplemented by excerpts of period and historical documentation. While the colony of Jamestown can be described as the birthplace of the most powerful country in the world, it wasn't an easy undertaking. Starvation, disease, murder, massacre, deceit, greed, corruption and piracy were commonplace in those first years. The winter of 1609/10 saw civilized Englishmen resort to cannibalism to survive. When researching one's roots, it is important to know from where they came; what they experienced, what motivated them, what they stood for and what hardships they had to endure. These things are essential to understanding who they were as individuals.

"A detailed look at the people associated with Jamestown from its founding in 1607 to 1800. Based on government records and private archives, it provides historical biographies of several distinct groups of people: Jamestown Island landowners, public officials, Native-American leaders, and African Americans associated with Jamestown. It also covers more than a thousand people who did not own land on Jamestown Island but whose activities brought them to Virginia's capital city."--p.[4] of cover.

"From the earliest records relating to Virginia, we learn the basics about many of these original colonists: their origins, the names of the ships they sailed on, the names of the "hundreds" and "plantations" they inhabited, the names of their spouses and children, their occupations and their position in the colony, their relationships with fellow colonists and Indian neighbors, their living conditions as far as can be ascertained from documentary sources, their ownership of land, the dates and circumstances of their death, and a host of fascinating, sometimes incidental details about their personal lives, all gathered together in the handy format of a biographical dictionary" -- publisher website (January 2008).

The second volume of the set (see Item 531) covers more families from the early counties of Virginia's Lower Tidewater and Southside regions. With an index in excess of 10,000 names.

"The foundation for this work is the Muster of Jan 1624/25 which had never before been printed in full."--Page xiii, volume 1.