s done with considerable public
approval and in some ways reflected the evolution of economic
development that seemed to demand a more convenient and less expensive
method for obtaining title to large areas of unoccupied land. As the
population of the colony increased and as the labor supply became more
plentiful, there was a rather widespread demand to be able to obtain
additional land, particularly adjacent undeveloped tracts, without
having to import an additional person for every fifty acres. Partly
through this demand, impetus was given to the custom, which was not at
first sanctioned by law, to permit the granting of patents by simply
paying a fee in the secretary's office.

While the headright system was designed to maintain some proportion
between the population of the colony and the amount of land patented, it
was also designed to stimulate the migration of immigrants to the
colony. Therefore, under the system it was possible for individuals who
would engage in transporting or financing the transportation of
immigrants to obtain large areas of land. This trend was started under
the company; and in the four years prior to 1623, forty-four patents of
5,000 acres each were awarded to persons who were to transport at least
100 immigrants to the colony. In 1621, for example, 5,000 acres were
granted to Arthur Swain and Nathaniel Basse and a similar grant to
Rowland Truelove and "divers other patentees" each grant to be based on
the transportation of 100 persons; 15,000 acres were to go to Sir George
Yeardley for engaging to transport 300 persons.

For the years following the dissolution of the company, valuable
information of the nature and size of land grants can be found in the
"Virginia Land Patents" which fortunately have survived the usual
hazards of fire and carelessness. The two following tables (Tables I
and II) have been compiled from the analysis of the land patents by
Philip A. Bruce and summarized in his _Economic History of Virginia_
(volume I, pages 528-532).

I. TABLE SHOWING SIZE OF LAND GRANTS FROM 1626 TO 1650
BASED ON THE RECORD OF VIRGINIA LAND PATENTS

Year or years Average grant for Largest grant for
the period the period

1626-1632 100-300 acres 1,000 acres
1634 719 acres 5,350 acres
1635 380 acres 2,000 acres
1636 351 acres 2,000 acres
1637 445