This is an exceptionally thorough work, for it contains genealogical abstracts from more than 7,000 issues of eighty newspapers printed in Virginia in the 18th century! In addition, where there were gaps in the Virginia papers, newspapers from nearby states were scanned for Virginia material. In selecting items to abstract, Dr. Headley looked especially for those that gave at least two pieces of genealogical data: age and place of residence, for example, date of death and names of executors, or name of spouse and place of residence.