This landmark work not only contains records of approximately 40,000 marriages with references to about a quarter-million individuals, but also derives from Bible records and references found in wills, deeds, court suits, and orphans' court records, as well as such traditional sources as parish registers, ministers' returns, and marriage bonds. The brides and grooms are listed in a in single alphabetical sequence, and all other persons mentioned in the records are separately indexed. As a rule the marriage records relate to three classes of people: (1) those who were married before settling in Virginia; (2) those who were married in Virginia; and (3) those who married after moving from Virginia to another colony or state--essential information for tracking the colonial origins of ancestors who removed to states like Kentucky, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, and Indiana.