Series III. Family and Miscellaneous Papers documents six generations of the Stearns and Sprague families. The papers include: household and farm receipts of Dr. William Stearns' father Peleg (1720-1780); Sarah White (Sprague) Stearns' (1764-1844) personal correspondence, accounts land deeds, and an 1827 lease of land to the town of Salem for the Bickford Street School; pew deeds and household, apothecary and grocer's receipts of William Stearns Jr. (1788-1865); real estate account books of William S. Stearns of Malden, Massachusetts; personal correspondence from Richard and Carrie Stearns on their trip through Italy and France, and while living in England; and land deeds of Sarah (Sprague) Stearns' grandfather, James White of Haverhill and Atkinson, New Hampshire. The miscellaneous family papers contain personal and business correspondence, accounts, deeds, and obituaries of Joseph E. (1752-1852), Samuel, Joseph G., Elizabeth, and S. J. Sprague, and Elizabeth (Harris), James White, Richard, Harriet, Caroline, William B., Joshua B., William S., and Sarah E. Stearns. Of interest is the 1718/9 will of Peter Harris, the father of Elizabeth (Harris) Swineton Stearns, and a letter received by Joseph E. Sprague describing a shipwreck off the coast of Guadeloupe (1823).

The miscellaneous papers include business and personal receipts of Andrew Wallis, essays, and accounts of the Boston Treasury Office (1782).