More than thirteen years in preparation, Mackenzie's "Colonial Families" treats only those families who trace their ancestry back to the period 1607-1776. Ranging from three or four pages to ten or twenty pages or more, each family history article furnishes the British or European pedigree of the colonial ancestor, followed by a listing of his descendants--generation by generation--up to the time of writing, giving names, birth dates, dates of marriage and death, places of residence, occupation, and a variety of other matter. Also included in the articles are illustrations of coats of arms associated with the families. The seven volumes combined cover no fewer than 850 families and name 125,000 family members!