Given the extent of the intermarriages between the Lewis family and the first families of Virginia, it is probable that this family has produced a greater proportion of eminent statesmen, soldiers, and frontiersmen than any family in America.

Unlike Sorley’s Lewis of Warner Hall, Mrs. Anderson’s book focuses attention on six Lewis families in America before 1740: the Warner Hall Lewises, of course; four John Lewises (of Hanover, Henrico, Donegal, and Shenandoah); and Zachary Lewis, the latter being an especially detailed history. In addition, this work contains accounts of the following related families: Taliaferro, Thornton, Walker, Fry, Willis, Washington, Cobbs, Thomson, Scott, Anderson, Harper, Wood, Price, Maury, Slaughter, Fontaine, Holladay, Littlepage, Smith, Overton, Tyrrell, Poindexter, Fowke, Moncure, Brown, Conway, Travers, and Daniel.