Another great old book (1920's?) is Kegley's Virginia Frontier. It is a precursor to a "modern" history, with footnotes and sources. He pulls much from Chalkley and the Draper and Preston Papers. The majority of it is about folks across the Blue Ridge in the Great Valley, but some pertains to the lands east in the Peidmont. Go here: http://books.google.com/books?id=Bp0nOrLrPlYC&pg=PP1&dq=Kegley%27s+Virginia+Frontier&sig=AkJkv6B-bSZLKjzwLsuqnVPxin4#PRA1-PA55,M1 This is a "limited preview," which means you can only view certain pages. This book is in most libraries. Scroll down to page 55. It takes a while to load. There is a good description of how the patent process worked. If you notice, the waiting process was often two or three years. Maybe longer. So if you see a patent dated say 1741, it may have been filed much earlier. You might be able to view the index of this book on google. Type a surname in the little search box and see what pops ups. Then you can tell if it's worth finding the whole book. Edwin