The seigneury of Anfield, or Beauharnois as it was usually called, was purchased by Edward Ellice (died 1863) from the Marquis de Lotbinière. Most of the papers consist of reports of various agents who administered the estate. Negotiations for the sale of Beauharnois were started in 1839, when the North American Colonial Association of Ireland agreed to purchase, but the huge amounts of money involved protracted the affair, and it was not finally disposed of until 1866.

There are also several groups of correspondence with the Canadian partners in whose businesses the Ellices had an interest, namely Forsyth, Richardson & Co., and McGillivray and Thain. There is also a good deal of correspondence on the Hudson's Bay Company, and the difficulties it encountered as the fur trade declined, because of the opening up and settlement of the country, a process accelerated by the finding of gold.