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This CD contains the three great gazetteers published by Samuel Lewis in the early to mid-1800s: (1) A Topographical Dictionary of England (4 vols.); (2) A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (2 vols.); and (3) A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (2 vols.). (A topographical dictionary, or gazetteer, describes the political, social, cultural, and physical features of a particular locale.)

Of critical importance to the genealogist is the fact that even the most obscure places in England, Ireland, and Scotland are identified in relation to a parish and in most cases to a specific church, leading in turn to the identification of parish records. Thus, if you know the place of origin of your ancestor--the village or town--these gazetteers will show you, in effect, which parish records to search for births, marriages, and deaths. Modern gazetteers are useless for this purpose. But over and above their obvious genealogical value, these gazetteers are fascinating and illuminating in themselves, bringing to life the ancestral homes and villages which until now have existed in name only, or as part of family lore and tradition. Information that was once obscure and mysterious is now at your fingertips, and while helpful in compiling a family history, this type of information is indispensable in understanding the culture and environment in which your ancestors lived.

The Topographical Dictionary of England gives a minute account of the history, topographical features, and principal events of every county, city, borough, market town, post town, parish, chapelry, township, hamlet, tything, and hundred in England. Information furnished includes population statistics, history of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, accounts of local courts, and relationships between civil and church parishes. In the Topographical Dictionary of Ireland every fact of importance tending to illustrate the local history of Ireland is given. Arranged alphabetically by place, it provides a faithful description of all Irish localities, showing, for example, exactly where a civil parish was located in relation to the nearest town, the barony, county, and province in which it was located, its physical features and principal landowners, the diocese in which it was situated, and the Roman Catholic district in which the parish was located. The Topographical Dictionary of Scotland contains much the same kind of detail, but since the LDS Church has made all the old Scottish parish records (pre-1855) available, there is now all the more reason to know the parish from whence your ancestor came.

In addition to the points noted above, these gazetteers contain full-page maps of the counties of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Furthermore, almost every page is embellished with engravings of the arms of cities, bishoprics, universities, colleges, corporate towns and boroughs, and the seals of municipal corporations. So detailed are these works, with their focus on local topography, history, and parishes, that the researcher will have no need to search out additional reference material.

This CD is recommended not only for genealogists but for anyone who has ever loitered over a dictionary or encyclopedia. The contents are immediately accessible via an electronic place name index.

System Requirements: You must have a CD-ROM drive, and in order to read the CD you must use either the Family Archive Viewer (version 4.0 or higher), which is available as a free download at http://www.genealogical.com/content/dlfav6.html, or Family Tree Maker for Windows, version 4.0 or higher (Family Tree Maker software can be ordered from www.FamilyTreeMaker.com).

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using the Family Archive Viewer:

1. Install the Family Archive Viewer CD or download it from http://www.genealogy.com/dlfav6.html.
2. Start the Viewer if it is not already running
3. Insert the CD you wish to view into the CD-ROM drive. If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.
4. The CD should open automatically, but users of later versions of the Family Archive Viewer must click the CD/magnifying glass icon in the top toolbar (above the template in some versions) to read the CD.
5. When the screen entitled “About this Family Archive�? appears, click OK where prompted.

To access information on our Family Archive CDs using Family Tree Maker:

1. Start your Family Tree Maker and open a Family File. (If the program is already running, skip to Step 2.)
2. Insert the CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive. (If you have 2 or more CD-ROM drives, the CD must be placed in the first one.)
3. From the View menu, select Family Finder, or select the Family Finder icon from the toolbar.
4. For FTM 2005, FTM 2006, or Version 16 or later: From the View menu, select Data CD, then View CD.

To search the CD for names, select the Search Expert button in the top right of your screen, then select "Search this archive for someone NOT from your Family File." You can also search for names by using the Index.

Note: If a window opens that contains a list of files on the CD, simply close it.