Accounts include receipts for household goods such as fabric, shoes, coffee, tea, dishes, sugar, meat, tools, wood, grain, medicine and medical treatment, liquor, and slaves' clothing; also included are records of wages paid, receipts for payments received on bonds, loans and debts, and account books, which record transactions with individuals and banks chronologically or by name. Bonds and agreements include lists of Samuel Chew's bonds as of 1789-1790 and several individual bonds, agreements, and notes. Correspondence contains letters to and from family members make up the bulk of Samuel Chew's correspondence. Samuel maintained close relationships with his family, and exchanged frequent letters with Benjamin Chew, Benjamin Chew Jr., and Edward Tilghman. They discussed business, farming, current events, politics, and the activities and health of family members, especially illnesses, their symptoms, and the remedies applied. Estate contains inventories taken shortly after Samuel Chew's death, notices of property sales, lists of items sold, and lists of buyers and their payment schedules provide a detailed record of his material possessions. Many of these documents list slaves from the family's Maryland Farms (Swan Point, the Great Plantation, Frisby's Meadows, Veazey Farm) along with their monetary values, notes indicating those who were considered less valuable due to age or other infirmity, and names of spouse, children, and/or other family members. The official inventories of the estate also list provisions sent for use of the slaves, such as bacon, blankets, livestock, and other essentials. A separate file contains records of slaves sold and their buyers, provisions made for aged slaves, and other notes. Miscellaneous materials include documents pertaining to legal cases in which Samuel Chew had some interest, architectural plans and notes, recipes for home remedies and food.
