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Surry County, which was originally part of the Jamestown settlement, figured conspicuously in the early history of the colony of Virginia. This work is a compilation of abstracts of the earliest extant wills and administrations of Surry County, containing abstracts of over 1,250 wills and administrations, with upwards of 7,000 index entries. Covering the eighty-year period between 1671 and 1750, its sweep is sufficient to establish it as the premier source book in Surry County genealogy, and few researchers interested in this early period of Virginia history can afford to overlook it.

Typically the will abstracts provide the following data: name of the testator, names of legatees, bequests, names of executors and witnesses, date of instrument, date of probate, and the book and page number wherein the original will is recorded. Administrations, of course, usually give the name of the administrators and the date of appointment. Quite a number of inventory appraisals are also given in the work. Needless to say, the will abstracts contain some of the richest genealogical information available, especially the bequests which identify the legatees' relationship to the testator. With a new index.