The Hammatt Papers focuses on the first two or three generations of several hundred Ipswich families, and, in the traditional manner, provides information on the lineal descendants of the earliest recorded member of the family in Ipswich, treating of a succession of parents and children, with dates and places of birth, marriage, and death where such could be ascertained from the records. The data throughout derives from wills, inventories, tax lists, subscription lists, lists of freemen, deeds, conveyances, court orders, and a wide variety of similar sources, and bears reference to approximately 9,000 persons, all of whom are cited in the new index.