Accuracy has been the aim in everything printed here; and much that could not be substantiated, or did not appear plausible, has been omitted or has been inserted with the qualifying words that it was possible or probable. With all the care exer cised and with the best intentions in the world to have every statement correct, it is likely, however, that errors will be discovered. Great care has been taken to exclude every statement that was palpably wrong. One case in point being where a correspon dent claimed that an ancestor had been a companion of a certain prominent man, when the fact was that this prominent man died fifteen years before the ancestor was born. Information has been obtained from a great variety of sources. Over five hundred printed books were consulted for every reference to the family. Town and church records, old wills, gravestones, and old family bibles have been examined. The compiler has personally visited many of the old towns of Massa chusetts during the past nine years.