This work draws on primary sources, such as published government records, together with references found in Irish, English, Scottish, and Dutch archives. The single most important source used in this work are the many volumes of the published Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland. Published in London between 1860 and 1910, this series contains a storehouse of genealogical information for the period 1509 to 1670. Included among the documents are letters and petitions from English officers, noblemen, native Irish chieftains, and mayors and corporations of towns in Ireland to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The aim of this work is to provide information on ordinary people throughout Ireland-with the exception of people of Scottish origin who have been dealt with in Dr. Dobson's "Scots-Irish Links, 1575-1725" series. Thus, the people listed here are predominantly of native Irish and immigrant English origin, as well as a handful of Huguenot and Dutch immigrants. For this book, Dr. Dobson provides sketches of about 1,400 inhabitants of Ireland in the 17th century.