pounds of tobacco;[1] and of John Davis, at 32,435 pounds of the same commodity.[2]
It will be seen from the figures which have been given for the personal estates of the leading planters and merchants in half a dozen of the wealthiest counties, that the average accumulation in this species of property was very important for that age and for a newly settled country. In a few cases, the accumulation was extraordinary. Unfortunately, the records of some of the oldest counties, such, for instance, as those of Charles City and Warwick, have been destroyed, which prevents us from obtaining any information as to the personal estates of planters like the elder William Byrd.
The largest proportion of the property held by citizens of Virginia in the seventeenth century was in the form of land. What was the extent of the area of soil owned by the leading planters? No accurate answer can be given to this question, because it is impossible to say how much each one had inherited or acquired by purchase. The land patent books afford us the only clear light as to the real estate in the possession of individual colonists. Among the most important patentees in the early part of the century were George Menefie and Samuel Mathews.[3] Menefie obtained grants for eight thousand four hundred and sixty acres, and Mathews for about nine thousand; each one of these planters was probably in possession of about one-third more landed property acquired by purchase or mortgage. John Carter, father and son, of Lancaster, sued out patents to eighteen thousand five hundred
