From necessity, as well as from a regard to the true design of the work, the following record is more genealogical than historical. Little else need be said of most persons than to specify the dates of their birth, marriage and death; their parentage, their children, their removals and places of residence, and their employments. The peculiar interest, however, which every family must feel with respect to its earliest progenitors, rendered it proper that our account should embrace everything which could be found in any quarter relating to John Wing of Sand wich, and his immediate connections. Those, also, who have been especially distinguished in public, social or commercial life, might naturally be expected to have a more particular notice. After our best efforts, very little material for such a purpose has come to hand, and every item thus recovered has been recorded which was thought to have any possible interest to their descendants. The arrangement which has been followed combines, to some extent, both methods of division — aby genera tions, and by direct lineage. The three principal branches, which sprung from the original progenitor through his three sons, have been kept distinct through all the generations. Minuter divisions, according to widely separated localities, or minor families, would have been difficult and perplexing. By means of the index, the numbers at the head of each paragraph and the numbers included-in parentheses, each branch of the family can be easily traced.