however exhaustively and excellently written, do not constitute a history of the county; and for a consecutive understanding of the general comity history the reader of Bolton or Scharf must rely upon his own constructive ingenuity -- must indeed be his own historian. Long before the work now given to the public was conceived as a practical project, the present editor realized the force of these considerations and cherished not only a hope that a genuine narrative history of the county might some day be produced, but an ambition to become personally instrumental in achieving so important a result. His attention was especially directed to the matter by his observations during his connection with the schools, from which he became convinced of the extremely elementary character of the general knowledge of this county's history, even in relation to the Revolution, whereof, indeed, anything like a well co-ordinated understanding is most exceptional among the people, and quite incapable of being taught to the young because of the unsuitability for that purpose of all books heretofore published that bear on the subject. In formulating the plan for the present work the editor had fundamentally in view a lucid continuous narrative, thorough in its treatment of the outlines of the subject and reasonably attentive to local details without extending to minuteness. These lines have been followed throughout. All existing materials, so far as accessible, have been utilized, proper credit being given to the sources from which borrowings have been made. The work comprehends a variety of new materials, which have been interwoven in the text. Portions of the manuscript have been revised or criticised by persons particularly well informed on certain phases of the subject; and to all of these critics the editor extends his thankful acknowledgments.