Smithfield Town Hall and town clerk's office (small sign at right), Peterboro, New York. On upper floor, the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. Built in 1820 as Presbyterian church.
Because of its most famous resident—businessman, philanthropist, and public intellectual Gerrit Smith—Peterboro was before the U.S. Civil War the capital of the U.S. abolition movement. Peterboro was, according to Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, the only place in the country where fugitive slave catchers did not dare show their faces,[3] the only place the New York Anti-Slavery Society could meet (a mob chased it out of Utica),[4] the only place where fugitive slaves ever met as a group—the Fugitive Slave Convention of 1850, held in neighboring Cazenovia because Peterboro was too small for the expected crowd. Abolitionist leaders such as John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and many others were constant guests in Smith's house. So many fugitive slaves headed for Peterboro, and Smith, that there is a book about them,[5] and some never left Peterboro, forming a Black community from an early date.
Here is the comment of a minister, visiting in 1841:
At Peterboro (the residence of Gerrit Smith), I found as may well be expected, it was all Abolition—Abolition in doors and out—Abolition in the churches and Abolition in the stores—Abolition in the field and Abolition by the wayside. If I should use a figure, I would say that Peterboro is Bible-baptized into Abolition, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.[6]: 5
I always breathe more freely in Peterboro, than elsewhere. The moral atmosphere is so clear here...[7]
This was not true elsewhere in Madison County.[6]: 5
In the 1850 census, the population of Peterboro was 347. In 1859 there were two drug stores, a tailor's shop, two groceries, a country dry goods store, the Peterboro Academy, the Fay House (a hotel), and the closed Peterboro Hotel.[8]
The Presbyterian church, not needed by the Presbyterians after 1870, was bought by Gerrit Smith for use as an academy and public hall.[9]: 51 It held a small public school for many years. Currently, besides the Town of Smithfield office, it houses the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. Gerrit Smith's mansion was lost to fire in 1936, but his office, the Peterboro Land Office, has survived. A Peterboro Area Museum is located in the former schoolhouse of the Home for Destitute Children of Madison County; in 2022 it is open only on Sundays.[10]
Founding
In 1795, Peter Smith Sr., a partner of John Jacob Astor's who built his fortune in the fur trade, founded Peterborough, naming the town after himself. Smith moved his family to Peterborough in 1804 and built the family home there, in what at the time was near-wilderness. His son Gerrit changed the spelling of the name to Peterboro.
Notable people
Gerrit Smith
In the 1820s, Gerrit Smith took over the business interests of his father, Peter Smith Sr., managing his family's property holdings in the town and the surrounding area. The Peterboro Land Office—the most important surviving building of the Smith estate—was built as his office for these activities.
Gerrit Smith's commitment to both the abolition and temperance movements led to the Smith estate in Peterboro becoming a stop on the underground railroad. Less successful was Smith's temperance campaign, which did not enjoy local support; he built one of the first temperance hotels in the country in Peterboro, but it was not commercially successful.[11]
He was reported to be liked by almost all the people of Peterboro. "He does a vast deal of good here." After John Brown's raid, when Smith expected to be indicted, the people of Peterboro were prepared to use force (guns) to prevent his arrest.[8]
Smith received a constant flow of unannounced visitors. During 1841 and 1842, there was an average of thirty-three visitors a month.[12] In an obituary, the visitors were described as follows:
[E]specially in the summer season, his visitors were of the most miscellaneous and amusing description. There you might meet a dozen wealthy and refined visitors from the metropolitan cities; a sprinkling of negroes from the sunny South, in their way to Canada; a crazy Millerite or two, who, disgusted with the world, thought it destined to be burned up at an early day; some enthusiastic adventurer who wanted Mr. Smith to invest largely in some utterly impracticable patent right, while the throng would be checkered with three or four Indians of the neighborhood, the remnants of the once-powerful Oneidas, who remembered the father, and felt pretty sure that they could get something out of the munificent son. The high-born guests had come to enjoy themselves during the Sumer solstice at this fine old rural retreat, and they always had a good time. As to the rest, they were never sent empty away, especially the negroes and the Indians, the former accepting cash in hand and good advice about the best route to Canada, while the latter departed in due time with shoulders stooping under burdens of flour, beef, and other edibles.[13]
Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a Black minister and abolitionist, who was quoted as saying: "There are yet two places where slaveholders cannot come—Heaven and Peterboro."[9]: xvii
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a founder of the women's rights movement and first cousin of Gerrit Smith on his mother's side, met her husband, Henry B. Stanton, at the Smith home in 1839, where she spent many months.[14]: 294 He had come from Utica to Peterboro to speak. Attending abolition meetings in Madison County, she wrote, "I shall never forget those charming drives over the hills in Madison County, the bright autumnal days, and the bewitching moonlight nights. The enthusiasm of the people in these great meetings, the thrilling oratory and lucid argument of the speakers, all conspired to make these days memorable as among the most charming in my life."[6]: 7–8
George Pack, his wife Maria Lathrop, and family resided in Peterboro in the late 1830s and early 1840s. From Peterboro, Pack went on to Michigan's Lower Peninsula, where he founded the family's business interests in timber.[15][16][full citation needed] Pack's son, George Willis Pack, who was born in Peterboro, and grandson, Charles Lathrop Pack, both became well-known timbermen in their own right.
^ abcHumphreys, Hugh C. (1994). "'Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!' The Great Fugitive Slave Law Convention and its rare Daguerrotype". Madison County Heritage (19): 3–66.
^Dann, Norman K. (2011). Whatever It Takes. The Antislavery Movement and the Tactics of Gerrit Smith. Hamilton, New York: Log Cabin Books. p. 32. ISBN9780975554883.
^Dann, Norman Kingsford (2021). Passionate Energies. The Gerrit and Ann Smith Family of Peterboro, New York[,] Through a Century of Reform. Hamilton, New York: Log Cabin Books. p. 55. ISBN9781733089111.
Nolan, David. 1984. Fifty Feet in Paradise: The Booming of Florida. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. (About Gen. Peter Sken Smith of Peterboro, brother of Gerrit Smith.)
