E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Eric Skeet, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 39148-h.htm or 39148-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/39148/pg39148-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39148/39148-h.zip) Transcriber's note: Research indicates that the copyright on this book was not renewed. Text in italics is surrounded by underlines (_italics_). HOW JUSTICE GREW Virginia Counties: An Abstract of Their Formation by MARTHA W. HIDEN Member of Executive Board of Virginia Historical Society Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation Williamsburg, Virginia 1957 Copyright©, 1957 by Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, Williamsburg, Virginia Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet, Number 19 HOW JUSTICE GREW Virginia Counties: An Abstract of Their Formation In addition to their human cargo, the poultry and fruit acquired in the West Indies, the clothing, household gear, and other possessions of the passengers, the _Susan Constant_, _Godspeed_ and _Discovery_ had a large though imponderable cargo of English laws, customs and religion. The colonists had left England, neither driven out nor seeking escape, but to found a new England in a new world. Though the seat of government was at "King James His Towne," the natural curiosity to explore and the economic necessity for means of livelihood caused settlements to spring up farther and farther away. Despite the fact that the colonists were in a region where rivers and numerous streams afforded easy transportation interrupted only for short periods by ice in winter, attendance at court in Jamestown was burdensome. THE FOUR CORPORATIONS By 17 June 1617, Governor Samuel Argall had established the four great divisions of the colony, namely: "the incorporations and parishes of James City, Charles City, Henrico and Kikotan" (later Elizabeth City). The Eastern Shore settlements were not included in this division.