Lunenburg County in southeastern Virginia was created from Brunswick County in 1746. The wills abstracted for this volume, shortly before the compiler's death, embrace all of those recorded in Lunenburg County from its formation through 1825. Most of the original wills were recorded in the county's official Will Books; however, Mr. Bell also discovered some early wills in county deed books as well as in circuit court records. Each abstract typically provides the following information: the name of the testator, his date of death and the date of probate, the names of the surviving spouse, children, or grandchildren, and the names of the executor(s) and witnesses. Mr. Bell also gives the page reference to the Lunenburg County Will Book where the original will may be found. The complete name index at the back of the volume, which was prepared by the Virginia Book Company following Mr. Bell's death, refers to some 7,000 persons in all.

It is the early fall of 1755 in the backcountry of Virginia. The British army has suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of the French and their Indian allies in the opening battle of the French and Indian War, leaving the frontier in flames and open to attacks from the enemy. William Kay, a young minister well-known to the colonial establishment for his years long stand against a powerful planter and vestryman bent on revenge, is murdered. Three of Kay’s slaves are accused and swiftly condemned to the brutal form of justice reserved for the enslaved, while another man who had threatened Kay’s life disappears from the scene. When the colonial governor and officials aligned with him suppress the news of the unprecedented crime and the court record of the slave trial, the killing of Reverend Kay becomes lost to history––until now.

By: Katherine Elliott, Pub. 1967, Reprinted 2016, 178 pages, Index, ISBN #0-89308-377-1. Lunenburg County was created in 1746 out of Brunswick County, VA. The earliest records in Lunenburg County cover this entire area. The records included in this volume have been abstracted from wills and administrations found in the back of Deed Book I and Will Book I & II. Because some of the early records of Lunenburg County do not seem to have been preserved, the compilers have included in this volume some 20 pages of records abstracted from ORDER BOOK 1-6. These notes from the order books give names of deceased persons not of record in the will books, and names of orphans and other notes pertaining to the period covered in Volumes 1 and 2 of these reprints. Also found is a listing of marriages taken from Deed Books and other vital records, as well as apprenticeships, guardianship and much other valuable data important to the person searching this area of Virginia. There are more than 2,200 names of persons found in the above records listed in the full-name index.