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 is a study of land grants from 1624 to the American Revolution to see if an economic explanation could be found for local resistance to and later acceptance of the proprietors of the Northern Neck.

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.

"The land grants listed herein were made by Lord Fairfax prior to the creation of the Virginia Land Office; by the Commonwealth of Virginia, of lands now embracing the State of West Virginia; and, by the State of West Virginia, under its first Constitution."--Page [1].

This study examines both the Land Patent Books kept by the Virginia government and the Northern Neck Grant Books kept by the proprietors of the Northern Neck. Special emphasis is placed on the dominant role of the head-right system in Virginia from 1624 to the Revolution and the causes of the decay of that institution.