This large, leather-bound ledger records the settlement of Lawson D. Franklin's estate, in the absence of a will. It begins with ten pages setting out the 29 articles of agreement between Franklin's heirs - I.W.R. Franklin of Jefferson County, Tennessee; W.A. and Caroline E. Montgomery of Washington County, Texas; R.H. and S.A.L. Armstrong of Knox County, Tennessee; and John M. and J. June Boyd of Knox County, Tennessee; and the two administrators, F.M. Taylor and Robert M. Barton, hired to fulfill that agreement. One of these articles requires Taylor and Barton to keep a book, available to all heirs, recording every step of closing Franklin's estate. To that end, this book provides over 450 pages of documentation that includes inventories of assets, records of actions and disbursements, bills of sale, arbitration agreements, and twenty semiannual reports. These are all written out in a clear hand, with occasional cross-references noted.