One of the main objectives in American genealogy is to  identify an immigrant's place of origin and parentage. This pursuit has been so  important that thousands of pages of abstracts and transcriptions have been  published in American periodicals and learned journals over the years. Among the  most important of these periodicals is The New York Genealogical and  Biographical Record, which, between the years 1903 and 1916, published four  lengthy series of abstracted English probate records and depositions, now  collected in this work.

These abstracts constitute some of the most valuable  articles on the English origins of American colonists ever published. In order  of appearance here, they are: (1) "Clues from English Archives Contributory to  American Genealogy," by J. Henry Lea and J. R. Hutchinson; (2) "New York  Gleanings in England," by Lothrop Withington; (3) "Genealogical Notes from the  High Court of Admiralty Examinations," by J. R. Hutchinson; and (4) "A Digest of  Essex Wills with Particular Reference to Names of Importance in the American  Colonies," by William Gilbert. For the researcher's convenience, all four  articles appear here in their entirety with an index of nearly 10,000 names.