Rivers, the Assembly postponed the date of such settlement until 1 September 1649. It seems to have been about two years later, 1651, before Gloucester County was established, and Burgesses from the new county are first listed in April 1652.

It may be mentioned that this is an early example of the cause underlying a great deal of the migration in Virginia: "barren and over-wrought grounds," the toll that tobacco yearly exacted from the soil and the continuing need for new land to cultivate in order to produce profitable crops of tobacco.

Only a little later than the northward expansion of York, evidenced by the new county of Gloucester, came its growth to the west. In 1654, Captain Robert Abrell appeared in the Assembly as Burgess from New Kent County. Like Gloucester, it derived from an English shire of the same name, and was bestowed in honor of Colonel William Claiborne of Crayford, Kent, England, at this date a distinguished resident of the new county. Its bounds were "from the west side of Skimeno Creek to the heads of Pamunkey and Mattapony Rivers and down to the head of the west side of Poropotank Creek."

Expansion also had taken place on the south side of James River directly across from Jamestown. The easterly bound of James City across the river was Lawne's Creek established in 1634 when the county of Warrosquyoake (Isle of Wight) was formed. The west boundary on the south side of the river was Upper Chippokes Creek. This, too, had been set up in 1634. Now in 1652, this area lying between these two creeks became Surry. Though named for the English shire, the spelling of the Virginia county has always omitted the "e" the English Surrey uses. It is said the name was selected because Surrey in England has the same geographical position to London as the Virginia Surry has to Jamestown, then the seat of government.

With the formation of Surry County the needs of the population were satisfied for exactly 51 years. Not until 1703 was another south side division needed.

The Northern Neck and The Eastern Shore Divide

Not so along the Rappahannock, for by 1656 only three years after Westmoreland was created, a petition was presented to the Assembly by "the inhabitants of the lower part of Lancaster County showing their vast distance from the county courts" and praying that a division be made. The Assembly acceded to their wishes, ordering "the upper part of Mr. Bennett's land known by the name of Naemhock on the south side of the easternmost branch of Morattico Creek on the north side the river be the lowermost bounds of the upper county; the lower county to retain the name of Lancaster and the upper county to be named Rappahannock County." This division followed the bounds of two parishes previously established.

The formation of Rappahannock County in 1656 ended the list of counties formed in the decade 1650 to 1660.

The next development was on the Eastern Shore. It had become sufficiently populous to support two county governments and in an Act of the Assembly March 1661/62 reference is made to the two counties. The southern part of the peninsula retained the name it had borne for twenty years, Northampton, and the county to the north assumed the name once borne by the entire peninsula, Accomack. The question of the boundary line between the two divisions dragged on for twenty-five years, being settled 22 March 1687/88. It has remained fixed. The boundary between Virginia and Maryland also was long in dispute, but Watkins Point at the mouth of Pocomoke River on its north side is the western end of the line. The line across the peninsula was set at a little north of the point.

With Eastern Shore divided into two counties, no further growth was possible and the peninsula remains two counties.

The next county to be formed in the colony was Stafford, which lies on the north side of the Rappahannock River to the west of Westmoreland. The name is in honor of an English shire. When formed in 1664, it was a border county with constant fear of Indian attacks since an established Indian trail regularly used by their hunting parties lay within its territory. Its north and west boundaries were not well defined, but included the area later Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, Loudoun and Alexandria (now Arlington) Counties.

Middlesex County, next to be noted, was functioning as a county in 1669 as Mr. F. W. Sydnor demonstrated in an article in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 42. It was taken from Lancaster County, being the portion that lies on the south side of the Rappahannock River and extends to Dragon Run, the northern boundary of Gloucester. It had been the southern part of Christ Church Parish in Lancaster and retained the same parish name. Christ Church was the only parish and coterminous with Middlesex County. By good fortune, Christ Church in Lancaster and Christ Church in Middlesex are still preserved and in use. Both the Register and Vestry Book of the latter have survived the years, the former begins in 1653 and the latter ten years later. No Register of Christ Church Lancaster survives, and the extant Vestry Book covers only the years 1739 to 1786. Middlesex, never large, was, in colonial days, the home of numerous distinguished families, among them the Wormeleys, whose house "Rosegill" has seen many important historical events. The name Middlesex is for the English shire, doubtless the birthplace of many early residents of the Virginia County.

The Colony Prospers Under A King and Queen and Two
New Counties Honor the Royal Family

After Middlesex in 1669, there was a hiatus of 22 years before a new county was created. In that period, the colony's fortunes had been checkered, and unrest and depression had been widespread. Troubles with the Indians, Bacon's Rebellion and economic ills, which led to tobacco cutting, all combined to make Virginia a gloomy place. The accession of James II brought no improvement in England, and the time was ripe for revolution. James II was forced to flee. He was succeeded by his daughter Mary and her husband, who was his nephew, Prince William of Orange. Under their rule, both England and Virginia became more prosperous. The next new county, King and Queen, created 1691, was named in their honor. This was formed from New Kent, "so that Pamunkey River divide the same, and so down York River to the extent of the county, and that the part which is now on the south side of York and Pamunkey River be called New Kent, and the north side with Pamunkey Neck be called and known by the name of King and Queen county." It was enacted further "that the inhabitants of Pamunkey Neck, that now belong to St. Peter's Parish be restored and added to St. John's Parish from which they formerly were taken, and that the Pamunkey River be the bounds betwixt the two parishes."

About the same time Lower Norfolk became populous enough to justify the formation of a new county. This was to begin "at the new inlet of Little Creek and so up the said creek to the dams between Jacob Johnson and Richard Drout and so out of the said dams up a branch the head of which branch lyeth between the dwelling house of William Moseley, Senr., and the new dwelling house