Since its inception in 1870, "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record" has been at the forefront in publishing articles on Long Island families, many of them lengthy, definitive studies spread out over several issues. In a number of these articles the English or Dutch origin of families is established. No better purpose could be served than to gather these articles together and reprint them in their entirety, thus making available a mass of information on Long Island families that has previously been difficult to locate. With the articles appropriately consolidated and arranged, and additions and corrections from "The Record" properly appended, this two-volume compilation becomes the single greatest repository of Long Island genealogies in existence. In addition, it is fully indexed and is published with an introduction by Henry B. Hoff, former editor of "The Record."