The Virginia county of Augusta originally extended from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Mississippi River, east and west, and from the Great Lakes on the north to the northern boundary of the present state of Tennessee on the south. Like many histories of this era, the author addresses early exploration and settlement of the area, the first County Court, the various Indian wars, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction period. Mr. Waddell also devotes an entire chapter to the Scotch-Irish, who were the earliest settlers; and up to the time of the Revolution, very few persons of any other ethnic group came to live in the county. For the historian, this is an informative and descriptive account of early Augusta County; for the genealogist, the narrative provides a wealth of biographical and genealogical sketches of early families. Some of the families discussed include: Adams, Alexander, Anderson, Baldwin, Baxter, Bell, Blackburn, Bowyer, Breckenridge, Brown, Cameron, Campbell, Christian, Craig, Crawford, Cummings, Cunningham, Doak, Fleming, Floyd, Gamble, Graham, Hamilton, Harrison, Hays, Jones, Koiner, Lewis, Lyle, McClanahan, McDowell, McKee, Mathews, Moffett, Moore, Nelson, Poage, Preston, Smith, Stuart, Tate, Trimble, Waddell, and Wilson. Softcover, (1902), 2011, Index, 556 pp.