Book excerpt: This is a highly regarded account of the formation of the 173 present-day and extinct counties of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Commencing with the incorporation in 1617 of the first four parishes of the Virginia Colony, James City, Charles City, Henrico and Elizabeth City, and concluding with the formation of Dickenson County in 1880 from portions of Russell, Wise and Buchanan counties, this marvelously compact book accounts for the beginnings and alterations of each and every county in Virginia, as well as those Virginia counties now found in the states of West Virginia and Kentucky. Mrs. Hiden, whose engaging narrative of Virginia boundary changes commands the reader's attention throughout, describes the historical factors leading to the formation of new counties, such as the spread of population, military and other territorial expansion, and the role of politics and the law; explains how the counties were named (as in the case of Princess Anne, which was named for the second daughter of King James II); and outlines the new boundary lines themselves. For the convenience of the researcher, at the back of the volume are a series of charts showing the progression of county formation, an alphabetical list of Virginia counties keyed to the charts, a subject index, and a map of Colonial Virginia.