Frederick Bittle Kegley

Kegley's Virginia Frontier: The Beginning of the Southwest, the Roanoke of Colonial Days, 1740-1783, with Maps and Illustrations Frederick Bittle Kegley

ALTHOUGH there has been a great deal written on the advance of the Virginia Frontier in Colonial times, no single book provides a more comprehensive history of the migration, the settlements, and the people than, Kegley's Virginia Frontier. As Mr. Samuel M. Wilson writes in his Introduction to this volume, "Henceforth it will be regarded and accepted as the one necessary and sufficient corner-stone in any collection of books dealing with the history of the Virginia frontier, from the beginning of the Colony down to the close of the eighteenth century." In his arrangement of the material, Mr. Kegley starts from the beginning of the Colony. Part I of the book is given to an outline statement of the advance of the frontier from that beginning to the beginning of the settlement of the region of the upper James River and the Roanoke. Part II covers the settlements of the territory in the period from 1740 to 1760. Part III tells the story of the Virginia Frontier in the French and Indian War. Part IV covers the closing years of the war and the settlements from 1760 to the organization of Botetourt County in 1770. Part V gives in considerable detail the organization of the new county and the community development in it from 1770 to 1783. To understand the migration into this new area and the foundations of the communities formed there, special attention has been given to the individual inhabitants. The arrival of each newcomer with his place of settlement is chronicled, and his experiences and subsequent movements appropriately recounted. Settlement maps have been constructed and included to show more definitely the location of important homesteads and community centers. Some copies of original maps and public and private papers have been used to show the methods used in keeping records and the forms prescribed by law. This massive work, with its extensive index, various lists, biographical sketches, land records, 31 maps and 65 illustrations, identifies thousands of individuals and provides a comprehensive and authoritative source for the historian or genealogist researching early Virginia and the advance of the frontier. Hardbound, (1938), 2012, Illus., Maps, Index, 840 pp.