Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Smith, Peter, 1768-1837.
Title:	Peter Smith Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1763-1850
Quantity:	16.0 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the New York State merchant and landowner; father of Gerrit Smith. Collection contains correspondence (1791-1837); financial papers (1771-1850) relating to various business enterprises; business and land papers (1767-1850); legal documents (1772-1840); and writings, including a journal of a trip from Albany to Johnstown in 1822. Notable correspondents include John Jacob Astor, Daniel Cady, William E. Dodge, Abraham Herring, Elbert Herring, Thomas Herring, Samuel Hoard, Nehemiah Huntington, Elisha Kane, John Kiersted, William Laight, William Lamont, Robert Lenox, John Lincklaen, Samuel McNeil, Morris S. Miller, Stephen Parkhurst, Samuel H. Payne, Jonas Platt, Harmon Pumpelly, Zebulon Shipherd, Gerrit Smith, Ezra Stiles, David Tomlinson, Lawrence Vrooman, Nathan Ward, and Elisha Williams.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

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.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Peter Smith Papers are divided into correspondence, business and land files, and writings.

Correspondence, 1791-1837, includes incoming letters and drafts of outgoing letters. There are approximately 1,580 incoming letters. The correspondence is concerned primarily with Smith's business and land interests, although there is reference to politics, religion and family affairs. Notable correspondents include John Jacob Astor, Daniel Cady, William E. Dodge, Abraham Herring, Elbert Herring, Thomas Herring, Samuel Hoard, Nehemiah Huntington, Elisha Kane, John Kiersted, William Laight, William Lamont, Robert Lenox, John Lincklaen, Samuel McNeil, Morris S. Miller, Stephen Parkhurst, Samuel H. Payne, Jonas Platt, Harmon Pumpelly, Zebulon Shipherd, Gerrit Smith, Ezra Stiles, David Tomlinson, Lawrence Vrooman, Nathan Ward, and Elisha Williams.

A revised index to the correspondence, prepared by Special Collections Research Center staff, indexes all incoming, outgoing and other letters. Correspondents are listed alphabetically by last name and then chronologically under each name. If there is more than one letter from the same person on the same day, each letter is listed individually. Unidentified correspondence are listed at the end. This index may be found at the end of this inventory (if viewing the paper copy), or in PDF form (if viewing online; file is large and may take several seconds to load).

Outgoing letters are primarily drafts prepared by Smith himself, usually in pencil, for his clerk to copy. The earliest separate draft is dated 1800. Notes concerning Smith's replies begin to appear on some letters around 1813, and complete drafts on the incoming letter begin around 1816. Drafts of Smith's correspondence to John Jacob Astor date from 1808 to 1829. All told there are approximately 180 separate drafts of Smith's replies; in the index mentioned above, incoming letters that carry complete drafts of replies are indicated by asterisks (*). A few other letters that were not written to or by Smith are also included in the index.

Business and land files (1763-1850) contains SMith's extensive business, legal and financial papers relating to his large land holdings in central New York. A detailed listing of this material, subdivided into financial documents, land documents, legal documents, and subject files, is given in the inventory below. In organizing these subseries, loose papers were interfiled with bound volumes to preserve chronological continuity. In the inventory below, brackets are used to indicate supplied titles (that is, the volume had no title so one was given to it by Special Collections Research Center staff). It should be noted that the terms "Blotter" and "Day Book" were used synonymously.

Financial documents (1771-1850) include Smith's miscellaneous account books, as well as account books for the Old Fort Schuyler store,the Oriskany Creek store, and the Peterboro store. Also included in this subseries are bank deposit and withdrawal records, bills and receipts, lists of outstanding loans, orders drawn, and miscellaneous material.

Land documents (1767-1850) include descriptions of lots and acreage, lists of land holdings, and the names and maps of military tract grantees. Also included are records of land purchases and sales, primarily relating to the New Petersburgh tract (formerly part of the Oneida Indian Reservation), lands purchased from New York State at tax sales, the Charlotte River and Byrne's Patent, and the Old Military Tract; this section includes surveyors' documents and some maps relating to these lands.

Legal documents (1772-1840) relate primarily to Smith's extensive land holdings and his position as county judge. Included in this subseries are land purchase agreements, bonds, charges to the grand jury, contracts for land sales, deeds and indentures, leases, mortgages, powers of attorney, promissory notes, legal suits, summonses and complaints, and miscellaneous legal documents.

Subject files (1793-1837) includes financial papers regarding Smith's grindstone business; his lease with the Oneida Indians for a portion of their reservation; financial, land and legal records relating to his partnership with John Jacob Astor and William Laight for the purchase of Charlotte's River and Byrne's Patent; and a copy of the will of Sir William Johnson and assorted related papers resulting from the struggles of Astor, Laight and Smith to get clear title to the Charlotte's River and Byrne's Patent.

Writings (1798-1821) contains Smith's miscellaneous prose and verse, and a journal of a trip from Albany to Johnstown in 1822.

After about 1818 Gerrit Smith assumed more and more of his father's business obligations; researchers interested in this later period should consult the Gerrit Smith Papers.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence is arranged chronologically by year, month and day. Letters dated only to the year are placed at the beginning of that year. All undated correspondence is placed at the end of the series and arranged alphabetically by author's last name.

Business and land files are subdivided as described above, and within each subseries arranged roughly chronologically. Writings are in alphabetical order by subject or title.

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Other Related Finding Aids

A complete index to the correspondence is available at the end of this inventory (if viewing the hard copy) or in PDF form (if viewing online). The file is large and may take several seconds to load.

A cartobibliography, containing a list of maps and plans in the Peter and Gerrit Smith Papers, and an index of place names, was compiled by library staff in 1989. For each map or plan listed, the guide gives date, author (surveyor), title, dimensions, scale, place names, personal names, and notes. (WARNING: This file is quite large and may take some time to download/open.)

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Related Material

The entire collection is also available on microfilm (Microfilm #3997).

Special Collections Research Center has the papers of many members of the Smith family. See also the Gerrit Smith Miller Papers, the Gerrit Smith Papers, and the Greene Smith Papers . In addition, many monographs, pamphlets and other printed material by or about the Smith family have been cataloged. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index to locate related manuscript collections, and to the Classic Catalog to locate cataloged printed material.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Places

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Peter Smith Papers
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Gerrit Smith Miller, 1928.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MLB
Date: 1972
Revision history: 1974, 1979 - corrections made; 12 Oct 2010 - description converted to EAD (MRC); 2 Aug 2011 - inventory converted to EAD (MRC)

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Inventory

Note on alternate formats:

The entire collection is also available on microfilm (Microfilm #3997).

	Correspondence
		A complete index to the correspondence is available at the end of this inventory (if viewing the hard copy) or in PDF form (if viewing online). The file is large and may take several seconds to load.
Box 1		[General] 1791-1807
Box 2		[General] 1808-1818
Box 3		[General] 1819-1825
Box 4		[General] 1826-1832
Box 5		[General] 1833-1837
Box 5		Undated letters
Box 5		Letters without year dates
Box 5		Fragments

	Business and land files
		Financial documents
			Account books
				Miscellaneous
Box 6					Petty Ledger 1819-1820
Box 6					C[anastota] & Morrisville Plank Road Company 1849-1850 - treasurer's accounts
Box 6					"Peter Smith, Schenectady, May 1825" 1815-1830
Box 6					Miscellaneous accounts of Peter Smith 1819-1822
Box 6					"Peter Smith's of Peterboro, Schenectady, Memos & Accts., 1826 et sub." 1813-1814
Box 6					"Lattu Pain's Account of Sundries. Likewise of work done by him -- Memorandum of work generally" 1808-1820
Box 6				Peter Smith's waste book, journal and ledger 1808-1826
Box 6				"Transactions & Memorandum of Office of Sherrif, Peter Smith, 1795, Herkimer County" 1795-1806, 1803-1807 - also "Blotter F," Whitestown and Peterboro
Box 6				"Peter Smith, Blotter, Peterboro, 13 May to 30 Nov 1806" 1806
Box 6				Household accounts, Schenectady 1825-1836
Box 6				Peter Smith, New York City, account book 1785-1787 - due to poor condition, the last pages of this volume were not filmed for the microfilm edition
				Old Fort Schuyler Store
Oversize 1					Blotter A Jun 1789-Apr 1791
Oversize 2					Blotter B 1791 - not filmed
Box 7					Blotter C 9 Jan 1792-20 Aug 1793
Box 7					Blotter D 22 Aug 1793-29 Mar 1799
Box 7					Blotter E 29 Mar 1799-6 Jan 1803 - also includes "Accounts from Oriskany Creek store, Town of Paris, Herkimer County, 1796"
Box 8					"Abstract from old Indian Blotter from 10 November 1788 to 1 August 1791, then commencing Blotter" for Old Fort Schuyler Store 1788-1802
Box 8					Ledger A 1789-1792
Box 8					Ledger B 1791-1798
				Oriskany Creek store, Town of Paris, Herkimer County
Box 8					Day book 1796-1798
					Accounts 1796 - see Old Fort Schuyler store, Blotter E.
Box 8					Peter Smith's accounts with the Oriskany Creek store; with John Goldsmith; with James Livingston, Jr. & Co., New Petersburgh 1796-1802
				Peterboro store
Oversize 3					Blotter G 19 Nov 1807-20 Jul 1819
Box 8					Blotter 1 Nov 1819-Feb 1820
Box 8					Blotter 2 Feb-May 1820
					[Blotter 3 has not been identified in these papers]
Box 8					Blotter 4 Jan-Sep 1821
Box 9					Day book A Nov 1819-Nov 1820
Box 9					Day book Nov 1820-Jan 1821
Box 9				Williams and Smith 1818-1837 - account of land sales, Madison County
			Bank books
Box 9				Bank of Albany 1801-1822
Box 9				Mechanics and Farmers Bank 1811-1837 (3 volumes)
Box 9				Mohawk Bank 1825-1837 (2 volumes)
Box 9				Utica Bank 1825
Box 9				Manhattan Branch Bank, Utica 1811-1817
			Bills and receipts
Box 9				[General] 1771-1810 (3 folders)
Box 10				[General] 1811-1834 (8 folders)
Box 11				[General] 1835-1837 (2 folders)
Box 11				Undated
Box 11			Loans outstanding 1790-1836 (3 items)
Box 11			Orders drawn 1820-1821
			Miscellaneous material
Box 11				Financial material formerly arranged with correspondence 1794-1837, undated
Box 11				Material relating to Edward W. and Henry Laight 1829-1835 (4 items)
Box 11				Material relating to Indian business 1792-1793 (2 items)
Box 11				Other material, mostly financial 1794-1837, undated
		Land documents
Box 11			Descriptions of lots and acreage 1806, 1814-1833, undated (3 folders)
Box 11			Land books forwarded to Federal Dana circa 1825-1829 (2 volumes)
Box 11			Lists of land 1805-1817
Box 12			Lists of land 1818-1846
Box 12			Military tract guarantees, names and maps undated
			Purchases and sales
Box 12				Miscellaneous notes 1797-1840 (2 folders)
Box 12				Land purchases and sales book A for New Petersburgh, in two sections; also, accounts of land purchased from and sold to the State of New York and the Oneida Indians 1793-1831
Box 12				Waste book, land sales and payments 1802-1811
Box 13				Land purchases and sales book B 1810-1836
Box 13				"State of New York. The pieces of parcels of Land described in this Book were purchased at the Comptroller's Sales for Taxes in November 1815 by Elisha Williams and Peter Smith…" 1816-1833
Box 13				"Lands purchased for Taxes in November 1815 & Deeded on 14 January 1818 by the Comptroller…" 1818-1837
Box 13				"Marsh Tax Purchased, 1828, 1830, 1834; Tax Purchases, 1821; Road Tax Purchases, 1825, 1831, 1834; and Quit Rent Purchases, 1826, 1821-1836" 1821-1836
Box 14				Sales of land in Tompkins, Chemung, Tioga and Madison Counties 1830-1839
Box 14				Sales of land, unidentified 1815-1834
Box 14				"Real Estate of Peter Smith. Sales and Purchases made subsequently to 1 Nov 1819, Book D," with index 1824-1849
Box 14				Real Estate of Peter Smith, book E, with index 1824-1849
Box 15				Real Estate of Peter Smith, book F, with index 1828-1847
Box 15				Charlotte River and Byrne's Patent, Laight, Astor and Smith, blotter of Peter Smith 1796-1815
Box 16				Charlotte River and Byrne's Patent, Laight, Astor and Smith, blotter B 1814-1837
Box 16				Charlotte River and Byrne's Patent, state of unsold lands on Jan. 1, 1827 1827
Box 16				Estate of Peter Smith, executor's book, list of goods and lands 1837-1847
Box 16				"Peter Smith's Day Book or Extracts from Blotter for 1789-1791"; Canajoharie, 1788-1792; Day book of land sales, 1793-1795; and "Sales at Auction of Lands in New Petersburgh, June, 1802" 1788-1802
Box 17				Old Military Tract 1829-1837 - record of various land purchases and sales
Box 17				Old Military Tract 1835-1842 - record book no. 2 of various land purchases and sales
Box 17			Redemption certificates from the State of New York for overdue taxes on land 1799-1826 (4 folders)
Box 18			Redemption certificates from the State of New York for overdue taxes on land 1827-1837 (3 folders)
			Surveyor's documents
				General
Box 18					Survey of the third and fourth townships of the Chenango Triangle, Nathaniel Locke, surveyor undated
Box 18					Survey, Brant Lake Tract undated
Box 18					Survey, unidentified undated
Box 18					Survey, unidentified undated
Box 18					"Field Book of a Survey of Land Laying Between the Dil[ ]way and Sisquehanna River Beginning on Monday 12th Sept. 176[8]," Archibald Campbell, Surveyor 1798 - not filmed due to deterioration
Box 18					"Fieldbook & Maps of part of No. 3 Manlius, and of lot No. 3, Late Oneida Reservation, 1806," W. Hammond, Surveyor 1806
Box 18					"A Survey of the Village of Peterboro in the County of Chenango…in the Tract Called New-Petersburgh, Made for Peter Smith, Esquire in the Years 1799 & 1804 by Ch. C. Brodhead" 1799-1820
Box 18					"Field Notes of a Survey of lands in the Village of Petersburgh for Peter Smith Esquire, performed in Sept., 1804, by C. C. Brodhead" 1804
Box 18					"Survey of Lots in New Petersburgh, April 1805, by C.C. Brodhead" 1805
Box 18					"A Survey of Township No 4 [Town of Florence, Oneida County] Scriba's Patent, the Property of William Henderson. Surveyed into Lotts by Benj. Wright" undated
Box 18					"Surveys for the Honbl. Peter Smith Esquire, in September & October, 1816, by Jno. Kiersted" 1816 - includes part of the former Oneida Indian Reservation
Box 18					"Survey and description of lands in the Chenango Triangle. Conveyed to Peter Smith Esq. & Dr. John D. Henry in June, July and August of 1816. By William R. Finn,, Surveyor" 1816
Box 19					"A Survey of the subdivision of sundry lots, and parts of lots, in Township Number 2 of Chenango Triangle. In the Towns of Smithville and Greene and County of Chenango. The Property of the Hon. Peter Smith Esquire and Doctr. John D. Henry. By Jno. Diersted, AD 1816" 1816
Box 19					"Fieldnotes of lots No 48, 61 and 67, in the third allotment of the Royal Grant, so subdivided in May 1800 by Werden Hammond for Peter Smith" 1800-1818
Box 19					Map and survey of lot no. 31, Cicero 13 May 1819
Box 19					"A Survey of certain lots and parts of lots in Township No. 4 in Scriba's Patent, Town of Florence, County of Oneida," Issac Bumpus, surveyor 1822
Box 19					Survey of lot no. 54, Groton 1819
Box 19					"Field Book, Chenango Triangle, First Township" 1826
Box 19					"Field Book, Chenango Triangle, Township No. Two" 1826
Box 19					Surveys and maps for portions of the Old Military Tract and other tracts 1829-1842
Box 19					"New Petersburgh Tract, 2nd Allotment, Field Book, June 8, 1831"
Box 19					"Macomb's Purchase. Great Tract One, Township 14S., 1/2 thereof and Township 14N.E., 1/4 thereof. Field Book of 108 Lots as Surveyed in the year 1835 by Nathan Ward" 1835
Box 19					[Chenango Triangle,] field book, David S. Crandall, surveyor 1830, 1824-1832
Box 19				Charlotte River and Byrne's Patent
Box 19					Outbounds of Byrne's Tract, Christopher Yates, surveyor; also, records of allotments by Ph. Freye 1767, 1795
Box 19					Field notes of a survey of Byrne's Patent books 1-4 1799-1801
Box 19					"A Survey of Lands In Byrne's Patent Performed in 1799 & 1800 for Peter Smith Esquire by Ch. C. Brodhead, Books 1 & 2" 1799-1800
Box 19					"A Survey of Lands In Byrne's Patent Performed in 1799 & 1800 for Peter Smith Esquire by Ch. C. Brodhead. Being the property of Peter Smith, William Laight, and John Jacob Astor, books 1 & 2" 1799-1800
Box 19					"Field Book of the Lots in Charlotte River Patent Surveyed for Peter Smith Esq. and not appraised by Commissioners..." 1803
Box 19					"Field Book of the Lots in Charlotte River Patent Surveyed for Peter Smith Esq. and appraised by Commissioners..." 1803
Box 19					"Charlotte River Traverse by C.C. Brodhead, August, 1803"
Box 19					"Charlotte Field Book Begun May 25, 1804, Closed June 7, Seth Ensign" 1804
Box 20					Charlotte River survey conducted by Charles C. Brodhead 1804
Box 20					Charlotte River and Byrne's Patent survey 1800-1805
Box 20					"A Resurvey & Subdivision of Lots in Charlotte River Patent. Made for Peter Smith, John Jacob Astor, and William Laight Esqs. in 1804 by Ch. C. Brodhead. Also surveys made in 1806" 1804-1806 - book 1, north side of river; book 2, south side of river
Box 20					"Surveys in Charlotte River Patent Made 1828, by James Frost" 1828
Box 20					"[Benjamin] Overbagh's Field Book No. 1," Byronville, for a survey of Charlotte River Patent 1831
Box 20					"Hen[ry] Vrooman's Survey at Ch[arlotte] Riv[er] Pat[ent]" undated
				New Petersburgh
Box 20					"Field Book of the out Bounds of New Petersburgh, Surveyed in 1793," [J. Annin,] surveyor 1793 - for lands leased from the Oneida Indians
Box 20					Survey of New Petersburgh 1799
Box 20					"Field Notes of 7 Lots in the Late Oneida Reservation. Resurveyed and Subdivided in Oct, 1803 for Peter Smith by W. Hammond" 1803
Box 20					"Field Book of six Lots of Land in 1st. Allotment, Petersburgh, as run around and subdivided in August 1800 by W. Hammond for Peter Smith Esq.," Book 1 1800
Box 20					"Field Book of Lot No 44, in the first Allotment, No. 29, in the second Allotment & Nos. 5, 6, 11, 17, 25, 26 & 35 in the 3rd Allotment of N. Petersburgh Surveyed & Subdivided in Sept., 1800 by W. Hammond for P. Smith Esq.," Book 2 1800
Box 20					"Field Book Containing a description of the boundaries & quality of 26 Lots of Land in New Petersburgh, as Surveyed, Subdivided &c. in the Year 1801 for Peter Smith Esq, by Werden Hammond," Book 3 1801-1811 - also includes surveys by Enos Cushing
Box 20					"Field Book Containing a description of the boundaries & quality of 67 Lots of Land in New Petersburgh, as Surveyed in April & May, 1802 for Peter Smith Esq. by Werden Hammond," Book 4 1802
Box 20					"Fieldbook of sundry Lots surveyed in 2d, 3d & 4th allottments, New Petersburgh in Sept., 1802, for Peter Smith Esq. by Werden Hammond," Book 5 1802
				Miscellaneous material
Box 20					Maps for surveyed lands 1805-1850, undated (2 folders)
Box 21					New York State Treasurer's receipts for land payments 1802-1836 (3 folders)
Box 21					Surveyor's notes 1811-1842, undated
		Legal documents
			Agreements on land purchases
Box 21				A-P circa 1799-1837 (16 folders)
Box 22				R-Y circa 1799-1837 (7 folders)
			Bonds
Box 22				[General] 1792-1831 - not all years are represented (17 folders)
Box 22				[General] Jan-Oct 1832 (8 folders)
Box 23				[General] Nov-Dec 1832 (3 folders)
Box 23				[General] Mar-Nov 1833 (8 folders)
Box 24				[General] Nov 1833 (2 folders)
Box 24				[General] 1834-1836 (4 folders)
Box 24				Peter Smith to the treasurer of the State of New York (missing as of July 1978) 1792-1836
Box 24				Peter Smith to others 1792-1832
Box 24				Others to Peter Smith 1796-1836
Box 24			Charges to the Grand Jury 1800-1821 (3 folders)
			Contracts for land sales
Box 25				General 1816-1821 (6 folders)
Box 25				Lists of contracts made circa 1814
			Deeds and indentures
Box 25				[General] 1772-Oct 1795
Box 26				[General] Nov 1795-1803
Box 27				[General] 1803-1816
Box 28				[General] 1817-1823
Box 29				[General] 1826-1837
			Leases
Box 29				Miscellaneous 1800-1839 (4 folders)
Box 29				"Memo of Leases. Charlotte River Patent. Rents due and paid. John Jacob Astor, William Laight and Peter Smith" 1804-1840
Box 29				"Memo of Leases In Byrne's Patent, Rents due & paid. John Jacob Astor, William Laight & Peter Smith" 1801-1829
Box 29			Mortgages 1809-1830
Box 29			Powers of attorney 1801-1835
Box 29			Promissory notes 1790-1831
Box 29			Suits, legal 1790-1839 (5 folders)
Box 29			Summonses and complaints 1799-1830
Box 29			Miscellaneous legal documents 1791-1837, undated (2 folders)
		Subject files
Box 30			Grindstone business 1814-1826
Map-Case 68			Oneida Nation lease to Peter Smith; petition to State of New York; affidavit of Isaac Rappalye re. petition 1793
			Partnership with John Jacob Astor and William Laight
Box 30				Financial papers 1823-1837
Box 30				Land records undated
				Legal papers
Box 30					Miscellaneous 1795-1835
Box 30					Agreements 1799-1829 (2 folders)
Box 30					Bonds 1800-1829
Box 30					Deeds and indentures 1804-1824
Box 30					Leases 1809-1831
Box 30					Powers of Attorney 1795-1823
Box 30					Promissory notes 1809-1811
Box 30					Suits 1811, undated
Box 30			Sir William Johnson's will in a contemporary copy, and related documents 1763-1798

	Writings
Box 30		Journal, "Tour Northward, commence at Albany, July 15, end at Johnstown, Aug 17, 1822," in the handwriting of Peter Smith 1822
Box 30		Printed material 1798-1821
Box 30		Verse in the handwriting of Peter Smith undated
Box 30		Miscellaneous items in Smith's handwriting undated

	Maps
		Maps are listed in a separate cartobibliography. (WARNING: This file is quite large and may take some time to download/open.)

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