The "headright" system, widely used for acquiring land in Virginia was never recognized in Virginia's Northern Neck. People wanting to acquire land there had to purchase a warrant and obtain a survey before they were issued a grant. The original Grant Books, now on microfilm, were used in making this collection of abstracts, and they generally provide the following information on some 5,000 Northern Neck residents: the name of the grantee, dates of warrant and survey, date and location of grant, amount of acreage, names of former owners/occupiers, names of adjacent property owners, and often the names of heirs and other family members.

This second volume in the series has abstracts of all of the grants from 1742 to 1775, a period that saw the formation and settlement of Frederick, Fairfax, Culpeper, Loudoun, Fauquier, and Dunmore (changed in 1778 to Shenandoah) counties in Virginia, and Hampshire and Berkeley counties now in West Virginia. Altogether, in more than 4,000 abstracts, about 7,500 early Virginia residents are cited, all of them listed in the index.

Charles Woolverton emigrated from England sometime before 1693 and settled in New Jersey. He married Mary in about 1697. They had nine children. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.

On one of Kathy’s visits home that fall, she asked her mother, “What is our heritage?” To which her mother replied, “Why honey, you’re a Texan!” I am not sure that was the answer Kathy was looking for, but, to my knowledge, she never questioned her mother’s response. However, at that time I decided that some day I would research our Kale Family history so Kathy would know her family heritage beyond being a proud Texan. I hope she and her children, Julia Marie Routh and John Michael Routh, will come to appreciate their German heritage after reading about the Kehls who came to America in 1731. They and their descendents helped form this great nation.

Charles Woolverton was in Burlington County, New Jersey, by 1693, and appears in records there and in Hunterdon County until 1727. David Macdonald and Nancy McAdams have traced Charles' descendants to the seventh generation, by which time they had spread out to many parts of the country ... This is a beautifully crafted genealogy. The format is easy to follow, and the documentation is impressive. The compilers have carefully explained their handling of problem areas, including the need to refute longstanding family lore about the immigrant ... This is an exemplary work, which descendants will certainly value and other genealogists would be well advised to study. -- Excerpts from a review published in the April 2003 issue of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record and reprinted with permission of the author, Harry Macy, Jr. and The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.