The Robert F.W.Allston Memorandum Book covers the years 1848 and 1849, documenting payments made by Robert Allston, a record of cattle on Waverly, Nightingale Hall and Matanza (later known as Chicora Wood) Plantations and mentions of enslaved people who are referenced by first name. The book also includes loose papers and newspaper clippings on politics, the electoral college and a written statement surrounding the different views over slavery between the northern and southern states.
The Robert F.W. Allston Account Book covers the years 1857-1859 discussing Chicora Wood and Nightingale Hall Plantations. The book includes information on acres of land, stock and cattle, payments and accounts, a purchase of forty-one enslaved persons and the number of enslaved persons at each plantation in which they are listed as dependencies. Book includes a second use with passages written from the back of the book towards the front.
The Robert F.W. Allston Plantation Memo Book, 1859, is a Miller's Planters and Merchants Almanac repurposed as a personal account book for Robert Allston. The book records the names of the enslaved men, women and children on Chicora Wood and Nightingale Hall Plantations as well as their births, deaths and whether they were hired out by other South Carolina plantation owners. Other entries include information on crops, payments and the smoking of bacon.
The Robert F.W. Allston with Robert Adger and Co. Account Book, 1860, is a journal recording household and grocery expenses for Robert Allston. Among the lists includes items for enslaved persons such as cloth and toothbrushes. Many entries also contain records of payments to specific individuals.
The Robert F.W Allston Account Book, 1860-1861, documents payments, a recipe to help cure rabies, stocks for Nightingale Hall and Chicora Wood Plantations and the names, births and deaths of enslaved people. The book also includes diary entries for when Robert Allston visited Manassas, Virginia at the Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War, recording conversations he had about the battle, the atmosphere of the army camps and the death of General Barnard E. Bee.
The Robert W. Allston 1862 Journal consists of entries discussing accounts, prices of items, land papers and a task performed by the enslaved persons Sawney, Mathias and Scipio.
