Pope has compiled more than one thousand main entries for persons found in the records of Maine and New Hampshire between 1623 and 1660, with many more inhabitants named in each entry. Residents and records of twenty-seven English settlements to the north of Massachusetts Bay Colony are included.
Pope employed a wide range of sources in surveying these families. There are many citations to the court records of Old Norfolk County, Piscataqua County and York County, as well as to the deeds and probate records of the same jurisdictions. He also made use of the town and church records, the notarial records of Lechford and Aspinwall, and the Trelawney Papers, covering the private fishing colony at Richmond Island.
During most of the period covered by this volume, all of these settlements were under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts Bay Colony. As a result, Pope has included data from the papers of the Massachusetts Archives, and from Suffolk County deeds.
