This is the first volume of a five-volume work consisting of Virginia genealogies that appeared in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, a notable periodical that contained a large number of genealogies that will be of help to the researcher.

This volume contains articles about the following main families in the alphabetical sequence Adams-Chiles:
Adams, Anthony-Cooper, Ball, Barret, Bassett-Stith, Battaile, Baylor, Berkeley, Bernard, Beverley, Bickley, Blackwell (with Miskell), Booker, Boyd, Bradley-Harrison, Branch, Brent, Brockenbrough, Brodnax, Brooke, Bruce, Buchanan, Buckner, Burwell, Carr (with Broadhead, Winston, Barrett), Carter, Cary, Champe (with Pope, Barradall, Beckwith, Thornton, Taliaferro, Markham), Chancellor, Chappell, Chew, and Chiles.