Florence Rao of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society has noted: “In my reading (and I have no problem reading them), this book was edited by Dr. J. H. White from the original manuscript in 1873.”

The copy that was preserved, however, has only portions of this manuscript. The remainder of the manuscript has long since been lost. For over a century scholars have been trying in vain to make sense of this manuscript. This volume provides some of the fruits of this search.

In compiling a book reviewing the many uses of what are essentially two of the oldest known writings on genealogy, and in demonstrating how they are related to one another and to the modern scholarly research on the topics of personal identification, family history, and family history, we decided to begin by asking questions directly posed by the original manuscript.

1st Edition. The original manuscript, including an introduction, was published in 1873, but the book was edited, re-numbered, and republished in 1895 with an expanded text and many additional appendices. Most of the new content was added in the same year.

Although there is a reference in the 1873 edition to a book of genealogical observations, we don’t know to whom it refers. However, the title may refer to the work of Thomas Jefferson.

2nd Edition- The most recent printing of the 1873 first edition that has been available is now a second printing–a third printing–with an expanded, annotated text. The addition of many new items and the addition of more extensive notes by R. S. White and E. E. J. Rasky have greatly expanded the content of this edition. The text is not necessarily the same as the 1873 text. However, all of the original text is still present.