The papers concern claims against estates of prominent people of St. Louis and other parts of the country. Names of those acting as administrators or having other legal interest in the estates include Auguste Chouteau, Charles Gratiot, Charles Dehault Delassus, Charles Sanguinet, Edward Hempstead, Henry von Phul, John Bent, H.S. Geyer, Robert Simpson, Frederick Bates, Kenneth MacKenzie, and John F. Darby. Also includes papers pertaining to the estates of Antoine Laframboise (October 12, 1771), Etienne Derouen (1798-1806), Mathurin Bouvet (October 9, 1800), Jean Baptiste Tardif (June 30, 1808), Joseph Robidoux (1809-1812), John Colter (1814-1815), Robert McClennan (1815-1817), Saint Paul Lacroix (1815-1822), Charles Sanguinet, Jr. (November 6, 1818), John McKnight (1821-1836), Aaron T. Crane (January 15, 1822), Pascal Pourpart (June 13, 1822), William Smith (December 18, 1824), William Shearer (February 26, 1825), Helene Chevalier (1831-1835), Alfred K. Stevens (1832-1852), Antoine Cerre (1834), Auguste P. Chouteau (1838-1852), Robert Paul Lucas (November 23, 1840), Hypolite Papin (1842-1847), James A. Hamilton Palmer (December 20, 1843), Joseph and Simon Philipson (1844-1845), Adam Martin (1845), Francisco Robledo (1848-1850), Sylvester Labadie (1852-1855), Henry Shaw (November 1889), Mrs. Alice B. von Versen (no date), Julien Dubuque (1811), and Pierre Barribeau (?-ca. 1850).