The Charcoal Burner, the Cheesemaker, and the Chippy has been compiled in four sections: these sections document the family lines of Milton's parents - Frederick Reeve and Wilhelmina Rogers and the family lines of Eileen's parents - Joseph Phillips and Mary Ellen Jones.

The book begins by tracing Milton's (Dad's) family line. His mother Wilhelmina (my Nana) was fairly reluctant to divulge anything much of her family history and I discovered that the very early records for Wilhelmina's family are out of reach in Germany and Poland. Dad's father Frederick, however, came from England so I have concentrated a little more on the relatively accessible archives of the United Kingdom. I apologise if the material may seem a bit lop-sided at times.

The Phillips side was relatively easy to compile as cousins David Coory and Dorothy McMaster had published a book on the descendants of William Henry Phillips, our great grandfather, some years ago. This has been the backbone of the material on Mum's family. I thank David and Dorothy for sharing the material that was collected for their book. In addition to this material The Charcoal Burner, the Cheesemaker and the Chippy contains information about the Phillips family prior to emigration to New Zealand.