The first chapter of this work starts with a brief account of the early settlement of New Jersey and the twenty-four proprietors, then leads into a comprehensive history of the town of New Brunswick, beginning with the establishment of the early boundary lines and some of the first settlers. Much historical information was taken from deeds; road books; court minutes; wills; marriage records; Chosen Freeholders' minutes; records of the Secretary of State's office in Trenton and the Proprietors' office in Perth Amboy; files of newspapers; minute books: of Queens College, of the New Brunswick Toll Bridge Company, of Christ Church and the Presbyterian Church in New Brunswick; the Archives of the New Brunswick Historical Club and of the State Historical Society, and private manuscripts, some of the latter going back four generations. The appendix contains several miscellaneous sections, most notably a bibliography and genealogical notes on the Bayard, Bennet, Billop, Ditmars, Drake, Farmar, French, Hardenbergh, Livingston, Low, Hude, Lawrence, Longfield, Inian, Greenland, Brinson and Cox, Parker, Runyon, Schureman, Schuyler, Scott, Taylor, Van Wickle, Beach, Wells, Voorhees and Williamson families. A special feature of this book is the fully indexed "Map of New Brunswick Lands, 1681-1800" which shows the location, acreage, year and owner of each plot. Another map shows the locations of Hessian fortifications during the Revolution.