Families of Western New York is similar in arrangement to the Central New York series and other Cutter series. The compiler traces each family line forward from the oldest known ancestor to the principal subject of the essay. This is followed by a detailed biography of that person, often with his photo, as well as an enumeration of collateral lines related to the principal subject. The index identifies some 2,000 descendants of the main families in the book.

Sanford Gladden traces the history of the Durst/Darst family and some 40 other related families from their European roots to Philadelphia in Colonial times. They migrated to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, to Delaware and Pickaway Counties in OH and on to Texas. Some of the related surnames are: Beck, Cecil, Chandler, Charlton, Cozad, Craig, Damon, Deam, Dill, Eaton, Ewing, Fry, Glendy, Glotfelter, Grigsby, Guy, Harshman, Haynes, Holman, Huston, Jamison, Keithly, Kennedy, Kent, Lightner, Marshall, Morgan, Orman, page, Perrins, Ramsey, Selling, Stroop, Trolinger, and Weiser among other smaller branches.

DNA Reveals Imposter: Charles Edwin Rinker Changed His Name to Harry Bernard King One Man, Four Families: DNA Reveals Harry Bernard King aka Charles Edwin Rinker Why would a young man leave the beautiful blue ridge mountains of Virginia and move to the flat fields of Iowa, by himself, without any apparent relatives nearby? Harry Bernard King appeared in Worth County, Iowa, in 1894, about 27 years old. He married there in 1896 and had five children. His obituary in 1919 said he was born and raised in Virginia, but no documentary evidence was found for him in that state despite thirty-five years of research by nationally recognized genealogists. Thanks to DNA that linked Harry to his Virginia origins under another name, Charles Edwin Rinker, along with two additional marriages and an illegitimate son, Harry was really Charlie, a lost sheep of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Shenandoah, Virginia. Charlie could change his identity, but he could not change his DNA!

Abraham Durst (d.1772) was a possible son of Abraham Durst the emigrant who came to Philadelphia in 1743 and settled at Reading Borough, Berks Co., Pennsylvania in 1790. He married Mary and they were one of the first families to settle in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. They owned land in Frederick and Shenandoah County. He died in Dunmore Co. They were the parents of Abraham, Isaac, Mary, David, Samuel, Benjamin, Joseph and Paul. Family members lived in Dunmore, Frederick, Franklin, Shenandoah and Rockbridge Counties, Virginia and Meigs Co., Ohio.