From the preface by Daniel Goodwin: "The Following pages contain a selection from the Genealogical Notes made by my uncle, Nathaniel Goodwin, from time to time after his appointment to the office of Judge of Probate for the district of Hartford, in 1833, and prepared for publication by him during the last three of the latter years of his life. They were not designed by him to be complete genealogies even of the families which are treated of, but, as the title indicates, genealogical notes to assist others in tracing out their family histories." Upon Nathaniel Goodwin's death, the responsibility of completing his manuscript devolved on Charles J. Hoadley who labored some time at filling in blanks left by Mr. Goodwin's passing and confirming much of the data already found through comparison with additional source materials. The resultant text offers a wealth of information for those researching old New England families, in particular the families of Goodwin, Blakeman, Case, Chester, Clark, Dwight, Edwards, Goodrich, Gurley, Hollister, Hopkins, Ingersoll, Jones, Judson, Kent, Lord, Mather, Metcalf, Mygatt, Nott, Porter, Sedgwick, Smith, Spencer, Stone, Storrs, Terry, Treat, Ward, Webster, Welles, Whiting and Worthington. The text is arranged into "memoirs," each describing the ancestry of a notable New Englander from one of the many families named. The original index of surnames has been retained for this edition.