The Samuel Rolfe collection contains receipts and records belonging to Captain Samuel Rolfe (1765-1832). The majority of the receipts and records reflect purchases and payments relating to several ships of which Rolfe was master or co-owner. Additional receipts and records reflect purchases and payments relating to Rolfe’s household and family expenses. The collection has been divided into three series.

Series I. Ship Records contains invoices, accounts, checks, customs duty receipts, marine insurance receipts, and other receipts for activities associated with the vessels Edmund, Active, Polly, Hazard, Two Brothers, Mary Jane, and Mercury.

Series II. Other Business Records contains additional bills and receipts which appear to be associated with maintenance, wharfage, cargo, supply, and other ship-related matters, but which do not reference a specific vessel. This series also contains a small number of receipts for purchases by Edmund Coffin (1764-1825) and one by Paul Pillsbury (1780-1860) related to buying and transporting bark mills, which were machines used in the tanning industry. Coffin was a licensed leather manufacturer and Pillsbury was a prolific inventor, who patented his bark mill design in 1808. Additionally, there are six receipts for purchases by Moses P. Parish, including stenography, blank books, cloth, cashmere, boots, and shoes. It is not clear how these receipts came to be in the collection, nor what their connection is to Samuel Rolfe.

Series III. Personal Papers contains bills and receipts for Rolfe’s household and family expenses including property, pew, and poll taxes, education for his children, purchasing of milk and other necessities, pasturing of cows, weighing hay, and expenses for writing his will.