Editing Gloucester County, Virginia (section)

=== Gloucester County formation and divisions ===
Gloucester County was formed from [[York County, Virginia|York County]] in 1651.<ref>Gloucester County appears to have been created between April 3 and May 21, 1651. On April 3, 1651, there were at least four patents for land in York County issued by the Governor. The tracts were all located in what became Gloucester County, ''see,'' Polly Cary Mason, ''Records of Colonial Gloucester County, Virginia'', 2 volumes (1946; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1946), vol. 1, pages 6, 38, and 58, citing Virginia Land Office Patents No. 2, 1643–1651, pages 301, 302, 304, and 324; digital images, ''Ancestry.com'' (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed April 2, 2019). The earliest reference to the existence of Gloucester County is a land patent dated May 21, 1651, ''see'', James Roe and Peter Richeson land grant May 21, 1651, for 1,500 acres first mention of Gloucester County, Gloucester Co., Virginia, Land Office Patents No. 2, 1643–1651, pp. 319–320; Virginia. Colonial Land Office. Patents, 1623–1774, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia; digital images, ''Library of Virginia'' (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/ : accessed April 2, 2019).</ref> No legislative enactment has been found for its formation.<ref>Polly Cary Mason, ''Records of Colonial Gloucester County, Virginia'', 2 volumes (1946; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1946), vol. 1, page xiv; digital images, ''Ancestry.com'' (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed April 2, 2019).</ref>  Gloucester County consisted of four parishes: Abingdon, Kingston, Petsworth and Ware. It was named for [[Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester]], third son of Charles I. Gloucester County figured prominently in the history of the colony and the Commonwealth of Virginia.<ref name="gloucesterva.info"/> Kingston parish was renamed as [[Mathews County, Virginia|Mathews County]] in 1791, after the American Revolutionary War and independence of the United States. The remaining three parishes were retained in Gloucester; the county was split on what is now the eastern county line.