The biographies condensed here are those of every tenth person listed in a large part of volume IV of the History of Virginia. The other biographical sketches of this and the succeeding volume, which we have condensed, have not been reproduced here because they are "more of the same thing."

It seems that the important people in all communities, both large and small, strongly tend to come from those ancestors who were, in their day, important. Those in the larger cities who have received special recognition, and therefore stand higher in the whole state, are more likely to have descended from the FFV. Leading citizens in small towns are more likely to have small town (merchant-farmer-county-job) backgrounds.

Much of the "flavor" of each biography is lost in condensation, but from studying the biographical sketches, one can ascertain whether the family rated highly or not. Of course, the inadequacy of information about some of the forefathers leaves one to conjecture as to their respective positions. The status of the immediate parents was usually evident.

When one remembers that anyone who had the means to purchase a set of these volumes could have his biography included in this series, one wonders that so few of the persons written up show signs of being "self-made," and also that so few persons on what is a relatively low level can boast of illustrious fathers and grandfathers. Often one notices that when the war dislocated a parent from his normal groove the son took up again where the grandparents had left off.

There is much truth in the theory that even in Virginia, which suffered the Civil War, and which has had to make such severe readjustments, there is overwhelming evidence of social class rigidity and continuity; there is little indication of disintegrating family status or of significant upstartism.