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When originally created, Lancaster County comprised a very large area of Pennsylvania, its western limits being undefined. It has since been reduced to its present size by the creation of thirty counties that trace their parentage to Lancaster County. The early settlers of the county were of various nationalities and faiths: English and Welsh Quakers, Swiss Mennonites, French Huguenots, Germans from the Palatinate, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and English and Welsh Episcopalians.

This important work contains the names of nearly 15,000 Lancaster County residents who either left wills or died intestate between the years 1729 (when the county was formed) and 1850. It is, in fact, an exhaustive index to will books and intestate records, comprising two complete alphabets showing the full name of the deceased; the year; and the book, volume, and page in which the records are to be found. The index is preceded by a brief history of the early inhabitants of the area and their settlements. Also included in the text is an extensive bibliography of Pennsylvania genealogy, biography, history, and religion.