First settled in 1737 by members of the Thomas Harrison family, the town of Harrisonburg was recognized by the Virginia House of Delegates in 1780 as the seat of the newly-formed Rockingham County. Always looking forward, the town fathers proclaimed a grand industrial future for the town by the 1890s, and Harrisonburg was incorporated as an independent city in 1916. By the mid-20th century, planned growth, urban renewal, and nearby Interstate 81 had transformed the small town into a metropolis. The remarkable photographs reproduced in Harrisonburg offer glimpses of Harrisonburg's growth from a crossroads trade center to the host of an interstate clover leaf.

In 1850 and again in 1860, the U.S. government carried out a census of slave owners and their property. Jack F. Cox's transcription of the 1850 slave owners' census is arranged in alphabetical order according to the surname of the slave owner and gives his/her full name, number of slaves owned, and the county of residence. It may be just possible that more persons with slave ancestors will be able to trace them via other records (property records, for example) pertaining to the 37,000 slave owners enumerated in this new volume.

This volume is largely a source book of genealogical and historical materials, compiled from the public records of Rockingham, Augusta, Greenbrier, Wythe, Montgomery and other counties of Virginia, with valuable contributions from various other parts of the United States.

A contribution to old Augusta County and Rockingham County and their descendants of the family of Harrison and allied lines. Rev. Thomas Harrison (1619-1682), an intimate of the Cromwell family, served as chaplain of the Virginia colony during Gov. Berkeley's first term. He immigrated to Jamestown, Virginia from England in 1640 and, changing from anti-Puritan to Puritan, moved to Massachusetts and marrying Dorothy Symonds about 1648/1649. He then returned to England. Benjamin Harrison, his brother, then immigrated to become the founder of the Harrison family of the James River in Virginia. Other colonial Harrisons who immigrated are detailed, along with many of their descendants and relatives, particularly those who settled in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Descendants and relatives also lived in West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Kentucky, California and elsewhere. Includes many ancestors and genealogical data in England, Ireland and elsewhere.