Yes, I failed to consider inheritance.
 
This is TERRIFIC !  and should clear up a LOT of my  questions.
 
From what you have said, it would be (technically) impossible for one to  
obtain a "grant" from the king, since grants were not used until after  
independence.
 
What, then would be the purpose of an "Entry Record Book"? How would it  
differ (or does it) from a "Patent Book? Typical Entry Record Book item: 
"Isaac Dodson 400 Acs. on the No. Mayo beg. at the Lower End of the  Cane Brake 
Th.e up on Both Sides."
 
Thank you VERY much !
    Carole
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/15/2011 1:18:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Carole D. Bryant  asked about these three methods of acquiring land in
colonial  Virginia.

You could, of course, also inherit land. Deeds and wills  provided the
two methods by which people could obtain land from other  people.

People could also obtain land from the king during the colonial  period
or from the state government after independence. Grants and Patents  are
actually two words for the same thing. During the colonial period  the
books that record government grants of land to private people or to  land
companies were called Patent Books, after independence they were  called
Grants.

There is a good brief history of the origins of  patents and grants and
of the process in the introduction that Robert  Armistead Stewart wrote
for volume one of Nell Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and  Pioneers, Abstracts
of Virgina Land Patents and Grants (Richmond, 1934),  which the Library
of Virginia has repeatedly reprinted. It should be  available in any
library where Virginia family history is being  researched.

Brent Tarter
The Library of  Virginia
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Please visit the Library of  Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov




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