Smith, Peter, 1768-1837

Peter Gerrit Smith (1768-1837), landowner and father of reformer Gerrit Smith, was a man of significant influence during the first quarter of the nineteenth century in Madison County, New York, where he was active in business, politics, and land transactions, and owner of a large portion of the central and northern sections of the country. In some of his ventures he was the partner of John Jacob Astor. The town of Peterboro, New York is named for him.

Peter Smith was born in Greenbush, Rockland County, New York, on November 15, 1768, the son of Gerrit P. and Wyntje Lent Smith, both of Dutch extraction. In 1784 he entered the counting house of Abraham Herring & Co. in New York City as a clerk. When he was nineteen, he opened a store at Fall Hill, near Little Falls, New York. During these years he went into partnership with John Jacob Astor in the fur trade, and although the parternship lasted only about a year, Smith and Astor continued for many years in the joint business of buying and selling land. Smith acquired a large fortune over the years by shrewd procedures in land transactions, both with Astor and alone, handling about a half a million acres in sum.

In 1789, Peter Smith moved to Old Fort Schuyler, now Utica, where he established a store and continued his speculations in land. In 1794, Astor and William Laight bought the Charlotte River and Byrne's Patent of 37,200 acres in the Mohawk Valley; Astor lent Smith the money to purchase half of the tract. In 1829 Smith bought out his two partners and became owner of the entire patent.

Smith obtained another large tract, this time 50,000 acres, from the Oneida Indians in 1793. He had established friendly relations with them, among whom he seems to have exerted some influence, and had become a close friend of the Oneida Chief Skenandoah, for whom he named his first son, Peter Skenandoah Smith. This "New Petersburgh Tract" comprised the town of Augusta in Oneida County, and the towns of Stockbridge, Smithfield, Fenner and northern Cazenovia in Madison County. Federal law forbade the Indians to sell their land, so Smith leased it for 21 years. In 1795 the state purchased a large part of the Oneida Reservation, including Smith's tract. He had leased portions of it to white settlers; now he and they had to pay the state about $3.50 per acre to obtain their patents. Smith emerged from this transaction with about 22,300 acres.

By 1806 Smith had established the town of Smithfield and, within it, the village of Peterboro. The village consisted of ten buildings including Smith's own house, which became known as the Mansion House in later years after it was enlarged by Peter's son Gerrit.

In 1807 the first officers of Madison County were elected and Peter Smith, a confirmed Federalist, was elected supervisor of the town of Smithfield at its first town meeting. That same year he was appointed judge of the Madison County Court. Smith began publication of the Madison Freeholder, of which he was the "proprietor," in 1808 in Peterboro. This and another publication started simultaneously in another town in Madison County were the first news and literary papers in the area.

On February 5, 1792 Peter Smith married Elizabeth Livingston, daughter of revolutionary army Colonel James Livingston. The records indicate that at least three of their children grew to adulthood: Cornelia, Peter Skenandoah, and Gerrit. Elizabeth died in 1818, and in 1823 Smith married his second wife, Sarah Pogson of Charleston, South Carolina. This marriage was unsuccessful and short-lived, ending in a separation and Sarah's return to Charleston.

Smith lived in Peterboro until 1819, carrying out his public duties, managing his lands and related businesses, and raising his family. In 1819 he turned over the management of his estates and businesses to his son Gerrit, retaining the income of $125,000 for his own use and spending much of his time in traveling. For many years he had been concerned about the state of his soul, and after the death of his first wife his religious concerns grew to a near obsession. He was active in the Madison County Bible Society and American Tract Society, and as he traveled he made it his business to distribute religious tracts in every community he visited.

Smith finally settled in Schenectady in 1825. He had been a man of personal as well as religious peculiarities for much of his life, and despite his financial successes he grew morose at the end, claiming that he was "a trouble to himself and a vexation to those about him." He died at Schenectady on April 14, 1837.

From the guide to the Peter Smith Papers, 1763-1850, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)