Samuel Chew's accounts document his purchases of household goods, tack and carriage parts, orthopedic apparatuses (probably for his son David, who had surgery on his foot), clothing, furnishings, coal, paper, tools, seeds, and dues paid to organizations. There are records of travel expenses, doctors' visits, taxes paid on property, as well as bills for work performed at Cliveden and at other locations. The Maryland farm book details the accounts of Epsom with its various overseers (Robert Cairns, John Mason, John C. Stetser and Charles H. Sheridan). Included in the farm book are inventories of equipment, grain and livestock. Samuel Chew's correspondence covers a wide range of topics--events in his family and changes in their health and financial situations, real estate transactions, continuing disputes over the estate of Benjamin Chew Jr., his marriage to Mary Johnson Brown, business relations with David Sands Brown, the settlement of David Sands Brown's estate, and significant national events such as the riots at Harper's Ferry and the beginnings of the Civil War in Maryland and Virginia. Samuel Chew served as executor (along with his brother Benjamin) for the estates of his father, Henry B. Chew (1800-1866) and Benjamin Chew Jr. (1758-1844), as well as for his father-in-law David Sands Brown (1800-1877). The estates subseries documents the settlement of those estates through account records, correspondence, and legal papers. Materials regarding the administration of David Sands Brown's estate can be found in series 13. David S. Brown and Co. Samuel Chew was one of the first members of the Chew family to collect genealogical material about his ancestors. He was a lifetime member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and took on the task of collecting materials from various sources about the family's history. The material in the genealogy subseries is a mixture of printed and hand-copied materials, with correspondence from family members across the United States, describing various branches of the Chew family, as well as providing information about related families. Related materials can be found in Series 27 (Family Genealogy). Samuel Chew worked as an attorney in private practice, representing various members of the Chew and Brown families--his legal and business papers contains appointments and papers related to Samuel Chew's work as Commissioner of Deeds, agreements, accounts and notes related to David S. Brown and Co., deeds and leases, law licenses, legal papers, and materials related to the Great Central and Plymouth Rock Oil Companies. Miscellaneous papers contains drawings and writings by Samuel Chew, along with poems and prose he collected and copied, notes, prescriptions, journal entries, passports, school notebooks and exercises, and other items.
