Lists about 2500 books found in major libraries throughout the U. S. containing genealogies of families from Virginia and West Virginia. The books listed deal with families of Virginia origins but often follow their descendants far and wide across the continent. Each book is listed under the surname of the primary Virginia family covered in it. Many of the titles listed deal with several families, not all of which may have Virginia roots. Citations to all these allied families are listed in a cross-reference table, regardless of the geographic focus of the family, making this bibliography of use to researchers with interests outside Virginia also.

Wise's Eastern Shore of Virginia is a history of the counties of Accomack and Northampton; however, genealogists will be drawn to the book's numerous references to families prominent on the Eastern Shore and to the extensive lists of early settlers and patentees of land.

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.

After an illuminating account of the history of Patrick and Henry counties, which occupies the first third of the book, the authors turn their attention to genealogy, providing authoritative histories of no fewer than 110 families. The genealogies generally begin with the first settler in either Patrick or Henry County and proceed to enumerate descendants in several generations, providing incidental detail according to the materials available. In addition to the remarkable collection of genealogies, the book also contains transcriptions of important genealogical source materials, such as the Patrick and Henry land grants and patents registered in the old Land Office in Richmond.

Joseph Vick, of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia and his Descendants, Volume 1 covers the first five generations of the descendants of Joseph Vick, who immigrated to America in the late 1600s. In addition to extensive, well-documented genealogical information, the book includes anecdotal historical information, references and foot notes. A center section includes illustrations and photographs of Vick descendants, lands and homes.

The earliest known Riley immigrants to the Chesapeake Bay Area were the three brothers - Garrett, Miles, and Thomas - arriving in Northern Virginia in 1635. Many of the oldest, surviving Riley Colonial Records and Land Grants of Maryland and Virginia, which are dated late 1600s and early 1700s, pertain to these immigrants and descendents. Many early Colonial Rileys used Christian names taken from the Bible, such as Samuel, Pharoah, Jeremiah, and Eliphaz. Moreover, early Rileys in Colonial America passed down many traditional given names used by O'Reillys (Anglicised as Reyley or Riley) in Ireland, such as Brian (Briain), Farrell (Ferghail), Hugh (Aodh), John (Seaán), and Miles (Maolmordha). And, in Colonial days, many Rileys of the Tidewater Frontier were related and moved in and out of the Colonies now known as Maryland and Virginia. In addition to three Rileys mentioned by name above, there were other Riley immigrants who came to Maryland and Virginia in the late 1600s and early 1700s. In this book, the writer discusses all known individuals of early generations of eight different Riley lines from the time of arrival of their immigrants to approximately 1850. By 1850, all of these Riley lines had multiplied so greatly that tracing their descendents to those living today is almost an impossible task. From 1850 to the present day, the writer discusses only his own branch of Rileys. Prior to this publication, such a comprehensive analysis of the early Riley families of Colonial Maryland and Virginia did not exist.

Martin Batdorf was born about 1699 in Palatinate Germany. He came with his mother and sister to America about 1710. He married Maria Elizabeth Walborn, living in New York for a while before settling in Tulpehocken, Pennsylvania. Information on his descendants is the subject of this material. The majority of these descendants have remained in Pennsylvania and the surrounding area.

From the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine.