In the preparation of his opus, the author had occasion to interview many survivors of the original settlers of Sumner County.Cisco's opus emphasizes the founder and foundation of Sumner County, and, in fact, the work is substantially genealogical in content. The first fifty pages of the volume move rapidly over such topics as early exploration of the county, local topography, territorial laws and officials, early land owners, and, of course, Sumner County in the wars, particularly the Civil War. Thereafter, the work focuses on Sumner County pioneers and their families in a series of genealogical and biographical sketches of varying lengths, some of them illustrated.

Brothers Henry Enoch and Enoch Enoch came to Virginia before 1750, settling on the sparsely populated frontier west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Their Virginia years were defined by the French and Indian War (1755-1763) and their close association with young George Washington. By 1757, their children had begun to explore more westerly lands, where they ultimately resettled with their families in what is now Washington County, Pennsylvania. Henry Jr., David, and Enoch Enoch were among the first "over the mountain men," settling west of the Allegheny Mountains by 1767. Their Pennsylvania years were defined by the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and the Indian Wars (1786-1795). By the turn of the century, the Enochs began looking west again, this time to the more promising lands of Ohio.