This is true, but women entering marriage could only hold such property providing the 18th/19th-century equivalent of a prenup was signed. I have seen a number of such contracts in Rockbridge County, all designed to keep the woman/wife-to-be in control of her own property. Still, these were rare. It was more usual for women to hold property in their own right upon the deaths of their husbands. See Lebsock's, __The Free Women of Petersburg__. JW To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html