The laws of primogeniture was not only practiced in Virginia, it was also practiced in other pre-Revolutionary southern states such as North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia as well. You can learn more about primogeniture and when this law was changed in the different states at the following URL: http://www.genfiles.com/legal/primogeniture.htm Linda Monticelli -----Original Message----- From: Hdanw@aol.com To: ncgranvi@rootsweb.com; SPRAD666@aol.com; seaknott@mindspring.com Sent: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 5:32 pm Subject: Re: [NCGRANVI] [changed subject] Rights of First Sons in Colonial Virginia Concerning pre-Revolutionary wills in Virginia, in a lecture long ago in Richmond, VA, a now-retired archivist/librarian said in a public lecture that in Virginia the law of primogeniture was in effect--that is, the eldest son inherits the land. Therefore, the eldest son did NOT have to be mentioned in the will. By law, he would inherit the land, perhaps all of the estate! This leaves some of us collectors of early Virginia wills *up a creek* in trying to find eldest sons. However, with several of my colonial Virginia ancestors, I see that several of the fathers of several sons were fortunate enough to patent sufficient land that many of them, the fathers, made deeds to their sons while still living. (In the case of one family I trace, the cagey father sold for 50 pounds his original land patent to his eldest son--he did not GIVE it. The reason: He had patented land in an adjoining county and was moving to the new residence, states the deed. These kinds of documents keep me reading deeds and abstracts of them, as well as the court records.) I do not know enough about Virginia colonial laws to verify the statement made in the first paragraph. However, if my memory is not too rusty, I was able to find online some [surely not all] of Hening's Statutes at large. Another lecturer familiar with many of the customs of the south says in some of her lectures that even though after the Revolution primogeniture was no longer in effect, in many states influenced by Virginia, primogeniture was practiced for many years. Suggestion: Use a google.com search in quotation marks, write: Hening's Statutes at Large About the fifth listing with the label *ListServ* at its beginnning is a link [it says] to the first volume of Hening's, and the dates are given. Perhaps this will be of some help. But unless your search engine is very clever, you may not find any names of common folk. A man named Joseph J. Casey, some years ago, made an index to these numerous volumes, and some of the book, it seems, is on microfiche at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and possibly is at an FHC near your residence. I see that Genealogical Publishing Co. had a reprint of this. This is the fiche number at Salt Lake City, but I am puzzled by the statement *2 microfiche of 104* Apparently some of the 104 microfiche do not circulate to the Family History Centers. You will have to confer with the personnel at a FHC. Or give the Family History Library a telephone call at night [not on Mondays] when frequently professionals are on the reference desks. E.W.Wallace **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598) ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NCGRANVI-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com

Thank you for the excellent link! This is very helpful! Linda S On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:28:38 -0500, you wrote: >You can learn more about primogeniture and when this law was changed in the different states at the following URL: http://www.genfiles.com/legal/primogeniture.htm