[1827–1836 Archive of Letters and Manuscripts of the Smith Family of Cayuga and Niagara Counties, New York].

Business on the Erie Canal, sermons, and a woman preacher in the “Burned-Over District”

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Small archive of letters and manuscripts by members of the Smith Family of western New York state. The majority of the archive was created by merchant Sidney Smith of Lockport, New York.

Smith’s four autograph letters signed touch on business matters, the transport of goods on the recently built Erie Canal, and, in one letter, mention of a woman preacher. He lived in what is called the “Burned-Over District,” a frontier area of religious ferment and fervor. Notable among Sidney Smith’s manuscripts are 9 sermons, or excerpts thereof, copied by Smith.

Smith appears engaged in the general mercantile business in Lockport, New York, on the Erie Canal. Prior to this, until 1820, Smith and his brother Thomas kept a store in Poplar Ridge in Cayuga County. Their father, Dr. Barnabas Smith, had been the first physician there, as well as serving as postmaster, and as representative to the state Assembly in Albany.¹

Excerpts from Sidney Smith’s letters give a sense of his business affairs, other news, and even of a secret communication technique:

I improve the present opportunity of writing a few lines c/o [brother-in-law?] Jos. Purdy who leaves here this morning…he has an idea of establishing an oil mill at this place & intends to have one in operation here next spring. ...an establishment of this kind is much wanted here. Brother William is now the only clerk I have he is rather unsteady but can do well in store if he will pay attention to business &c. ... I shall continue to send your paper till you direct it stopped. I will manage so as to convey communication on inside of wrappers, so that by your warming the paper by the fire the writing will appear legible on inside of each wrapper accompanying the paper. We remain in very good health except [wife] Polly who is afflicted with broken breasts[?] had one opened yesterday discharged a good deal of matter our daughter we have named “Catharine.” (August 8, 1827, to Dr. Barnabas Smith)

As soon as you receive information respecting the salt I wish you to apprise me of result. If I have the salt, I wish to know soon & I wish to receive it at a price certainly not above cash price here by the boat load[?] [wax seal] which is $1.50 pr. Bll. [barrel] & I should want it as soon as it can be forwarded to this place as it is now early[?] [wax seal] in season for selling salt. ... I [indistinct] the hope that you will make us a visit before the canal closes [freezes?]. It is uncommonly hard times with us for cash & remarkable dull time for trade. (Saturday, September 23, [1826?], to Dr. Barnabas Smith)

As to the wall you mention as being built between Tho[ma]s and me is not yet erected nor is it probable that it will be. I have not contemplated doing so nor do I intend to if he will desist in trespassing on my rights & privileges in moving & forwarding business on the canal. ... Last sabbath I attended methodist meeting & the Sunday previous the orthodox friends [Quaker] meeting heard good discourse from a woman from Philadelphia. We now are favored with a number of meetings of different denominations every sabbath & some good preaching. Some cases of cholera has recently appeared here, but all the cases lately…are all located in lower ward of this village, particulars of which Thos. can inform you. (August 22, 183[2?] to “Mother”)

A speculation: was Lucretia Mott the woman Quaker minister from Philadelphia preaching in Lockport? 

Other autograph letters signed here include one by William Smith and two by Polly Smith.

It is unclear who composed the handwritten sermons. They all appear to have been copied out by Sidney Smith. He attests and signs as much on a few of them, but it is not clear that he wrote them. A few of the sermons appear to have been forwarded by hand to Barnabas or Polly Smith. A few of the above mentioned autograph letters signed were written upon sheets containing additional copied sermons.

Sermon topics include repentance,  “the evils that await intem[p]erate drinking spiritous liquor,” humility and obedience, and the doctrine of election.

An archive of family letters and copied manuscript sermons revealing business life in western New York, freshly opened to new settlements, trade, and religious fervor along the Erie Canal. The curious need for Smith to use espionage-like tactics to communicate adds an interesting facet of this group.

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