Peyton R. Gilbert is the central figure in these family papers which begin with his father Samuel Gilbert, a judge in Tolland County, Connecticut. The family was based in Gilead and Hebron, Connecticut. The largest part of the papers contains legal and financial papers from the law practices of both Peyton R. and Samuel Gilbert. Also included is family correspondence, with a number of Civil War letters from David J. Gilbert as well as letters from members of the family in the West. Also in the papers are the diaries (1878-1884) of Ralph P. Gilbert and the papers of the Gilead Ecclesiastical Society, including letters from Albert W. and Nellie P. Clark who were living as missionaries in Bohemia in 1872.