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At its formation in 1771 from Rowan County until 1778, Surry County included the present-day North Carolina counties of Alleghany, Ashe, Forsyth, Stokes, Wilkes, and Yadkin; while for the period 1778 to 1787 it included present-day Forsyth, Stokes, and Yadkin counties.

Based on recorded wills and original wills at the North Carolina State Archives as well as "Loose Estate Papers" of intestates, these abstracts cover not only wills but powers of attorney, bonds, inventories, bills of sale, etc. Significantly, Surry County lay within the Granville Proprietary at its formation, and after Lord Granville's death in 1763 until 1778, the Proprietary land office did not reopen, making it very difficult--but for these will abstracts--for the present-day researcher to establish the residence of many individuals during that time period. What is more, as there are no extant marriage bonds for Surry County for the period 1771 to 1780, these will abstracts assume an importance out of all proportion to their customary value.

The abstracts generally include the name of the deceased; date of the instrument and approximate date of death; names of heirs, with relationships specified; bequests of real and personal property; and names of executors, administrators, and witnesses. In addition, Mrs. Linn, one of America's late esteemed genealogists, has included annotations from a variety of supplementary sources and has made additions and corrections to the earlier version of this work published in 1974.