George Cabell Greer

A supplement to John Camden Hotten's book "Original Lists of Persons of Quality." Mainly taken from headrights of Virginia land patentees. The reader should note that headrights were akin to baseball cards: easily transferable, often claimed decades the original date of arrival, and the person claiming land for importation may have little or nothing to do with the fact of interest. The wise researcher will not confuse dates or places with actual events pertaining to the headright being used for the land patent. Also the the wise researcher will not confuse Crown Patents with Northern Neck Propitery GRANTS. Last, one could claim a headrright for himself or anyone else, and this dos not imply that anyone came in from England. One could claim a headright from anywhere, even from next-door Maryland. In fact, one could out to the Atlantic Ocean and come right back and claim oneself as being imported. As can be imagined, the headright system was fraught with fraud.… (más)