Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/11



In volumes I. and II., the history of Virginia as set forth in the biographies of its distinguished citizens was brought down approximately to the year 1861. The present volume brings that history down to date. The divisions are as follows: I. The Governors of the State; II. Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals: III. Under the Confederacy—Department Officers, Members of Congress, and Military and Naval Officers; IV. President of the United States; V. United States Senators; VI. House of Representatives; VII. Prominent Persons.

While it is believed that the list of persons under the first six heads may be deemed substantially correct and on the whole satisfactory, the same remark as was made in the preface to the second volume applies to the last division. The selection may not always have been wise, and some important persons have doubtless been omitted, but it is the best that could be done under the pressure of official work and the time allowed by the publishers. It is proper, however, to add that some names of important living persons were purposely omitted from the third volume because of their appearance in a more extended form in the fourth or fifth volumes prepared directly by the publishers.The Author.