The correspondence and papers chiefly relate to Donald, 3rd of Geanies and his issue, including a series of letters from members of the family in America in the 1770s and on military and naval service during the Napoleonic wars. The MacLeods of Geanies are descended from the MacLeods of Assynt, a cadet branch of the MacLeods of Lewis. Assynt was lost to the family in the time of Neil, the 9th Baron, and the title but not the estate passed to his brother, John, the family fortunes being somewhat restored when John's son, Donald, a captain in the Scottish Brigade in Holland, purchased Geanies from Sinclair of Dunbeath.