Stephen III's Personal Correspondence, which is outgoing except for two folders, deals with college experiences, family matters, personal business transactions with family members and friends, and the ordinary affairs of daily life. The correspondence to Stephen from W. W. Webb and miscellaneous friends, relatives, and associates concerns the same matters. Included here is a letter signed by Booker T. Washington requesting a donation to the Tuskegee Institute.
Business Papers comprise the largest group of papers in Stephen III's series. The General business papers, which are arranged chronologically by month, trace much of Stephen's business career. There are receipts, orders, and manifests from the different firms for which he worked as well as for his own businesses, and papers related to his insurance company. The latter document his insurance business and dealings with different companies including Northwestern Mutual. There are letters to and from home offices, district agents, policy holders, and insurance boards and associations; doctor's forms; receipts; accounts; policies; contracts; etc. Other papers found among the General business papers are deeds, contracts, loan notes and related correspondence, and miscellaneous correspondence concerning Stephen's other scattered interests, especially his land dealings. It should be noted that from around 1885 on Stephen IV was working with his father and therefore some of the papers are his. The two can sometimes be distinguished when Stephen III is addressed as “Esquire” and Stephen IV as “Junior.” Since this is not always reliable, Stephen III's and IV's papers are arbitrarily divided by the 9 February 1906 death of Stephen III. The Martindale-Pettibone Company papers include receipts for goods and services, bills, loan notes, correspondence, lists of financial obligations and taxes, deeds, contracts, legal documents, and other papers related to the company's lumber and land interests. There is also a reprint of an 1848 article about the Black River Valley which briefly discusses the company's history. Business Literature and Bank Papers generally contain the same types of materials as these same divisions in Stephen IV's papers. Estate Papers include receipts for funeral expenses and debts, telegrams, and papers concerning the final settlements for both Stephen III and his wife, who preceded him in death by less than two months.
Household Bills and Receipts reflect the daily life of a moderately well-to-do family during the last half of the nineteenth-century. There are bills and receipts for food, furniture, appliances, clothing, material and notions, home improvements, druggist and medical supplies and expenses, food and board for horses, coal, ice, lamp oil, subscriptions to magazines and newspapers, membership dues for societies and churches, and other expenses.
School Papers date mostly from Stephen's years at Wallingford and at the Burr Seminary. Included are numerous essays and compositions on such topics as patriotism, the influence of education on society, intemperance, the pleasures of memory, hospitality, and many others. There are also debate papers, Greek exercises, handwriting exercises, copies of poems and selected prose passages, translations, a letter of recommendation, bills, receipts, and miscellany. These papers, complimented by his correspondence from these years, provide an interesting account of the activities and pursuits of a student during the period.
