Land was Gold
By around 1620, as an enducement to populate the new lands in America, an incentive of 50 acres of land was offered to anyone who provided for the transportation of someone who became a resident of the Virginia Colony.
The result was that anyone who could prove, upon arrival of himself or someone else, that he had paid the transportation for them, that person could claim 50 acres of available land in any part of Virginia (except in the area known as the "Northern Neck").
Land was gold and certification of rights to the land was applied for soon after arrival of the emigrants - while proof of the claim was fresh. Documents certifying these rights were commonly called "Headrights" and were often used as "paper" currency and freely sold, bartered, or assigned.
Records surviving from the 17th century are primarily about the "landed gentry" (i.e., those wealthier persons who owned the headrights, claimed the lands and paid the taxes). The vast majority of 17th century Virginia residents were not among the gentry and records about them are virtually nonexistent.
The only significant source of names of early residents who were not land owners are the Virginia Land Patents. When filing for land patents, it was common practice to list the names of the individuals for whose "heads" the rights were being claimed. The Land Patents are extant and list the names of many, many thousands of Englishmen who were the basis for 17th century headright claims. Four Crosslands are among those listed.
Daphne Gentry of the Library of Virginia has prepared an excellent article on this subject (and many others). This will take you to it.
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