Long out of print, this work lists approximately 78,000 heads of households and is believed to incorporate the most complete collection of source material available for North Carolina in the 1820 period. Under each surname, individuals are listed by counties and thereunder alphabeticalloy by given name, an arrangement that tends to keep family units together. To compensate for the lost census records of Currituck, Martin, Montgomery, Franklin, Wake, and Randolph counties, the compiler substituted tax records and records of the 1810 and 1830 federal censuses of North Carolina.