as been more careful of its priceless historical manuscripts
than has Virginia, and this copy today reposes in the Public Record
Office in London, a veritable treasure trove of information concerning
economic and social conditions in the colony.[3-41]

Even a cursory examination of the rent roll is sufficient to dispel the
old belief that Virginia at this time was the land of the large
proprietor. As one glances down the list of plantations he is struck by
the number of little holdings, the complete absence of huge estates, the
comparative scarcity even of those that for a newly settled country
might be termed extensive. Here and there, especially in the frontier
counties is listed a tract of four or five or even ten thousand acres,
but such cases are very rare. In Middlesex county there is but one
plantation of more than 2,500 acres, in Charles City county the largest
holding is 3,130, in Nansemond 2,300, in Norfolk county 3,200, in
Princess Anne 3,100, in Elizabeth City county 2,140, in York 2,750, in
Essex 3,200.

On the other hand the rolls reveal the existence of thousands of little
proprietors, whose holdings of from 50 to 500 acres embraced the larger
part of the cultivated soil of the colony. Thus we find that in
Nansemond, of 376 farms 26 were of 50 acres or less, 66 were between 50
and 100 acres, 110 between 100 and 200 acres, 88 between 200 and 400
acres, 78 between 400 and 1,000 acres, and only eight over 1,000 acres.
In Middlesex county out of 122 holdings eleven were of 50 acres or less,
33 between 50 and 100 acres, 32 between 100 and 200 acres, 25 between
200 and 500 acres, 19 between 500 and 2,500 acres, one of 4,000 acres
and one of 5,200 acres. Of the 94 plantations in Charles City county 26
were of 100 acres or less, 21 between 100 and 200 acres, 25 between 200
and 500 acres, 19 between 500 and 2,500 acres and three more than 2,500
acres.[3-42]

Although the average size of the plantations varied considerably in
different counties it was everywhere comparatively small, far smaller
than the average land grant of the time, far smaller than has been
imagined by some of the closest students of the period. For Nansemond
the rolls reveal the average holding as 212 acres, for James City county
400, for York 298, for Warwick 308, for Elizabeth City county 255, for
Princess Anne 459, for Gloucester 395, for Middlesex 406, for Charles
City county 553.[3-43]

In the past few decades much has been written of