This compilation is a reconstruction of the 1698 census of New York. The author was aided by the surviving portions of the 1698 census and also by the statistical summaries of the census that have survived the passage of time. The author was able to locate more or less contemporary substitute sources (eg., militia lists, tax lists, church records, town minutes, etc.) and reconstruct the populations of the missing counties, towns, and manors. In all the author has identified by name 96% of the men, 50% of the women, and at least 40% of the children alive in the colony of New York in 1698.

This work is arranged alphabetically by county and thereunder by town/subdivision or manor. The author begins each county chapter with a detailed discussion of the reconstruction variables: original source(s), spelling, layout of the original information, statistical recap, a brief history of the area under investigation at the time of the census, and a bibliography for further research on that county. The chapter-by-chapter lists of persons are arranged to conform to the earliest known transcription of the census of 1698. The volume concludes with a complete name index and, owing to the significant New Netherland heritage of early to mid-17th-century New York, a substantial number of Dutch names. The author's historical and methodological Introduction to the book provides insight into the missing census itself, making it must reading for any genealogist or historian planning to conduct research into this fascinating period.