A standard reference work, these two volumes embody a valuable collection of hundreds of pedigrees and collateral pedigrees of members of Chapter I of the Colonial Dames of America who trace themselves back to the Colonial Period. While the members were mostly residents of Maryland, Chapter I being a Baltimore chapter, the records are of families from all the original Colonies, as well as Maryland. The records are arranged in alphabetical order according to the names of the contributing members, but all the main families are indexed by surname at the end of the work, the whole of which is profusely illustrated with coats of arms and portraits.