This classic work on colonial Southern families was originally published in 1911 and revised some forty-seven years later. It contains hundreds of genealogies giving names; dates of birth, marriage, and death; names of children and their offspring, with dates and places of birth, marriage, and death; names of collateral connections; places of residence; biographical highlights; and war records. Over 12,000 individuals are referred to in the text, all of them easily located in the alphabetical index. It must be borne in mind that this work deals strictly with the genealogical history of Southern families whose forebears were established in the colonies prior to the Revolution.

Chief among the families included in this classic multi-family reference are Adams, Alexander, Ambler, Armistead, Ball, Bassett, Blackwell, Bolling, Bouldin, Braxton, Brent, Burwell, Byrd, Carter, Cary, Chilton, Clarkson, Collier, Cooke, Corbin, Creel, Downing, Drake, Duvall, Ferrill, Fishback, Fitzgerald, Fitzhugh, Green, Gwynn, Hammond, Hardy, Harrison, Huddleston, Jennings, Johnston, Keith, Langhorne, Lee, Lightfoot, Marshall, Martin, Mason, Metcalfe, Murray, Neale, Orrick, Parker, Pickett, Raines, Ridgely, Robinson, Scott, Shields, Slaughter, Smith, Steptoe, Stewart, Stuart, Tayloe, Taylor, Turbeville, Washington, Watts, Wright, and Wyatt.