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The abstracts of wills and administrations in this compilation were drawn from a critical study of the records of Accomack County, Virginia, perhaps the oldest county in America. These abstracts, naming approximately 30,000 individuals, were compiled with the following objectives: to locate every record of will and administration, to obtain the names of every beneficiary of an estate, to discover the degree of relationship of the beneficiary to the testator or intestate, and to discover the nature of the inheritance.

Of great importance to genealogists, special attention is paid to the orders of probate, which often contain the names of children and heirs not mentioned in the body of the will, particularly the "heir at law." It was not unusual for a man to give his eldest son his share of his estate before his death; when this was done, very often the eldest son was not mentioned in the will, but when the will was probated the heir at law was cited to appear and show cause why the will should not be admitted to record.This order gives the name of the heir at law, which is duly set forth in the order of probate. Again, a man frequently left property to his wife and made her his executrix, but did not state her name; when the will was probated her name was mentioned in the order either as qualifying or as relinquishing her right to qualify.

This is an outstanding example of the thoroughness of the work, which was originally published in two mimeographed volumes in 1931 and is now reformatted and reprinted in one volume with a single, comprehensive index. Stratton Nottingham, the compiler, was peculiarly fitted for this work, having a natural taste for antiquarian research, a wider reading than the average searcher, considerable knowledge of the law, familiarity with Accomack families, and a marked ability to read old script. The far-flung descendants of old Accomack families--at least those interested in their family history--can be thankful that it was Stratton Nottingham who memorialized their history.

"The wills and administrations are remarkably complete, and they are the only history (with the titles of land) that many southern families have."--From the Preface by Milnor Ljungstedt