W. Ward Smith genealogical research papers

1834-1940

The W. Ward Smith genealogical research papers contains William Ward Smith's genealogical notes, essays, clippings, charts, correspondence, ca. 1920s-1940s; original family letters and documents; and photographs relating to Smith's genealogical research on the Smith family of New York and New England, including the Smiths of Lyme, Conn., and the related Berrien, Cowenhoven, Eliot, Elwes, Leverich, Mather, Riker, Suydam, Trowbridge, Vandevoort, and Ward families. Notable content includes letters, 1816-1851, of Henry Elwes, a Catholic priest, including letters, 1834-1839, while at the English College, Rome, Italy, to his brother Alfred Elwes, a U.S. Army doctor at Fort Hamilton, Long Island, N.Y. (great-grandfather of W. Ward Smith) concerning family, health, personal, and political matters, as well as Elwes' work and training in the priesthood, and from the 1840s-1850s, when he was at Cossey Hall, Norwich, England, written to other family members. The collection also contain letters, 1886-1910, to Smith's grandfather, Albert Mather Smith, Engineer of Distribution for the Consolidated Gas Company of New York City concerning aspects of the gas, lighting, and power business. Photographs includes images of W. Ward Smith as a child, and his parents, Eliza Palmer Ward Smith, and Charles Albert Smith, in Garrison, N.Y. and elsewhere; also, a carte-de-visite of Captain Albert M. Smith, Baltimore, 1862, and two stereoscopic views, one of men of Co. D, 7th N.Y.N.G. at Camp Cameron, Washington D.C., 1861; and of officers of the 37th N.Y.S.M. at Capt. Albert M. Smith's tent, Camp Belger, Baltimore, Md., 1862.