Charles Francis and his wife, Elizabeth, migrated from Wethersfield, Connecticut, through New York and Indiana, eventually settling in New Buffalo, St. Joseph County, Michigan. His papers include correspondence from various members of the Francis family in Connecticut, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The collection also contains a ledger of Charles Francis, in which he recorded his daily work as well as expenses and receipts.

Much of the correspondence is concerned with family matters. Other subjects of particular interest include fires aboard the steamboats Brandywine and Tollisman, and the difficulties associated with living and working in the French section of St. Louis, Missouri (April 15, 1830), a discussion of economic hard times and their causes in Springfield, Illinois (July 19, 1837, May 12, 1838), and the hardships faced by other members of the Francis family pioneering in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia (December 25, 1866, September 16, 1867).