00 acres as noted by Bruce.
The date 1685 listed in Bruce has been changed to 1689 to give the
proper time period of 1689-1695.]

For the period from 1634 to 1650 included in Table I, there were
occasional grants of 5,000 acres, but the average size of the patents
for the period was not over 446 acres. It was possible, of course, for
one individual to build up a large landed estate by putting together
several smaller grants; and this was done by a limited number of persons
during the seventeenth century in Virginia as will be discussed later.
There was also the possibility that grants of considerable size in the
original patent might be broken up and distributed to others in smaller
amounts. In any case, the second half of the century as reflected in the
land patents saw a moderate increase in the size and number of large
grants as the population increased, and the average size for the land
patent of this period was 674 acres, an increase of 228 acres over the
period prior to 1650.

While the second half of the century witnessed this increase, much of it
came during the third quarter of the period. Near the end of the century
there was a definite trend to break up some of the larger patents into
smaller landholdings by sales to servants completing their indenture, by
distribution of land to children, or by sale because of an inadequate
labor supply either of slaves, indentured servants, tenant farmers, or
wage earners.

The existence of the small farm and the small farmer as a major part of
the socio-economic system of Virginia at the end of the seventeenth
century has been well established. Professor Wertenbaker suggested that
"a full 90 per cent of the freeholders" at the time the rent roll was
compiled in 1704/05 included the "sturdy, independent class of small
farmers." Through examination of land patents, land transfers, tax
rolls, and a sampling of other county records, he found substantial
evidence to corroborate the suggested trend of the breakup of a number
of large patents and their distribution to small freeholders.
Illustrative of this development was the land known as Button's Ridge in
Essex County. Originally including 3,650 acres, the tract was patented
to Thomas Button in 1666. The estate then passed first to the brother of
Button and later was sold to John Baker. Baker divided the large tract
and sold small amounts to the following people: 200 acres to Captain
William Moseley, 600 to John Gar