Asa Smith correspondence
Scope and Content note
The collection consists primarily of correspondence, financial invoices and papers, and a handful of legal documents. Represented in this material are Smith’s various business, political, and community ventures, including records of his store stock, supplies required to care for his family and animals, building ventures, and timber and railroad papers. Efforts to build and maintain the community are evident in papers regarding the military road, the Mattawamkeag bridge, and the local schools, as well as lists of Democratic voters and correspondence with and regarding the area’s political concerns. The material is arranged chronologically, except for two folders of legal records placed at the end.
Dates
- Creation: 1832 - 1863
Creator
- Smith, Asa Edward, 1798-1880 (Person)
Access
Unrestricted
Copyright
Access to collections at Maine Historical Society is not an authorization to publish. Rights and reproduction requests may be submitted in writing to the MHS Image Services Coordinator or Research & Administrative Librarian, subject to format.
Biographical note
Asa Smith (1798-1880) was born near Auburn, Maine, into an agricultural family. In the 1820s, he moved to the Penobscot region and eventually settled in Mattawamkeag with his wife, Louisa Haynes, and their children. Smith was engaged in a variety of trades: he farmed, ran a store and boarding house, traded farm animals and grain, served as plantation clerk and postmaster for the town, and was a representative in both houses of the Maine state legislature (House 1843 and 1854-1855; Senate 1846-1847). He served as a director for two early regional railroads, the Old Town and Lincoln and the Western and Lincoln, and was Justice of the Peace and Quorum for a time. Additionally, he was involved in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows as a supervisor of District 12 for Maine.
Extent
1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Provenance
Gift of E. Christopher Livesay, June 20 and June 27, 2022 (acc. no. 2023.021).
Processing note
E. Christopher Livesay gifted these papers to MHS as part of a larger donation of material compiled over decades as a collector of Maine-related manuscripts and books. All of the material from the donation shares accession number 2023.021.
This collection arrived described and inventoried, and the material was arranged in chronological order. This order has been largely maintained, though folders were combined when appropriate. Items were rehoused and the material was processed as an individual collection.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Asa Smith correspondence
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jordis Rosberg, MHS Project Archivist, March 2023
- Date
- December 12, 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Maine Historical Society Repository