There are almost 500 biographies in this book. Normally the profiles are of people alive at the time the book was published (1905). The length and depth of articles vary, depending on the perceived importance of the individual. Some publishers of group biographies like these, which were commonly a part of county histories, charged fees to the individuals profiled, and a generous payment could often inflate the size of the profile. These profiles can be very useful for tracing family history because they normally contain biographical information about the parents, and sometimes the grandparents and in-laws, of a subject. However, publisher’s researchers did not normally attempt to verify information provided by subjects, so factual errors are common.

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