Compiled by historian John Eyerman in June 1899, the author explains: In gathering material for my work, I found it necessary to visit some of the old graveyards in Northampton and adjacent counties and I was astonished at the number of gravestones which had, either entirely, or in part, lost their inscriptions. How many more would succumb to the action of the elements within the next decade! In the majority of cases, these inscriptions being the only record extant, so far as the births are concerned. Realizing the great loss to compilers of family genealogies, and the absolute necessity for a permanent record of these stones, I immediately decided to copy the dates of birth and death and in many cases the entire inscriptions.