"It seems evident that the English element has predominated throughout our country, and the greater portion of English colonists settled in New England. Hence the great activity of genealogists there has had more than a local importance, and will be the means of preserving the records of the greater portion of our nation. There is difficulty in tracing the American pedigree of any family. Mr. Savage's admirable dictionary will furnish the inquirer with the first three generations of the name, and the indices of the register will enable him to examine numerous town and county records. There are very few names which will not be found in one or the other of these easily accessible works. The county registers of wills and deeds are open to every inquirer, free of expense, and it is rarely that any town clerk demands a fee for the inspection of his books. It is safe to say that nowhere else is the genealogist so favored as in New England, and consequently no community exists where so great a proportion of its families have had their records preserved. "We have been fortunate in our historical records from the first. Bradford and Winthrop have noted down even the minute particulars of the settlement of their respective colonies; Mather and Prince have given us numerous items concerning the lives and pedigrees of the clergy and magistrates. In establishing the registry of deeds, our forefathers not only were in advance of England in political science, but they gave the genealogist a source of information elsewhere wanting.