This set of papers deals largely with the activities of Phineas and John Whiteside, pioneer farmers in Washington County, New York, who acted as agents (1785-90) in the handling of 3,756 acres of land for Henrietta Maria Colden and her son. The papers include deeds to Phineas Whiteside for 1,011 acres from Alexander Colden (1769) and Richard Nicholas Colden (1775) containing detailed information as to lots, names, rents, and terms, and with some rents fixed at 20 bushels of wheat per 100 acres; letters refusing rents in "the New Paper Money" and urging the payment of arrears, refusing payments in cash instead of kind but making an exception for the parsonage lease "in consideration of this being a public benefit"; and other papers relating to tenant landlord relationships. The papers dealing with Phineas Whiteside and his son John include labor accounts (1792, 1800-38), slave bills of sale (1800), general accounts (1807-18), inventories, and a series of letters (1819-30) from Thomas Whiteside of Champlain relating to mortgages, business, rents in Montreal, and the use of the herb scullcap to treat the victim of a rabid dog. Also, "A History of Phineas Whiteside and His Family," a pamphlet compiled by Ida Whiteside, as well as a supplement which deals with the Cambridge Committee of Public Safety, an anti-Tory group to which Phineas Whiteside belonged.