Frye Village Stories: the Peter Smith Family (part 5)
A Shawsheen Village Story
Before Shawsheen Village Frye Village Stories: the John Dove family
We're continuing Frye Village Stories with the homes of John Smith, Peter Smith, and John Dove.
Peter Smith
Like his business partners John Smith and John Dove, Peter Smith (1802-1880) at first lived near their Frye Village mill complex. In the 1840s, Peter Smith built his estate, “Forest Hill,” on Shawsheen Road, closer to the new mill in Abbot Village (Dundee Park).
ACHC #1979.091.1, Peter Smith Mansion, "Forest Park"
Peter and his first wife Rebekah Bartlett had five children. Rebekah died in 1833, and Peter remarried in 1835 to Esther H. Ward. Together Peter and Esther had seven children. All seven children survived to adulthood; sadly, Lucretia and Elizabeth died in their 20s.
ACHC #1989.545.1, the Peter Smith family in 1851
Peter Smith was born in Brechin, Scotland, into humble circumstances. His father died when he was just 8 years old, so Peter left school to work. That was the last of his formal education until attending evening schools later in life.
Seeking work in flax mills in Scotland, at age 13 Peter walked from Brechin to Aberdeen a journey of 45 miles, and at 15 he walked over 100 miles from Brechin to Glasgow, “...a few miles beyond Stirling, he became very tired. Sitting down on the top of a snow-drift, he thought over his life. All his wrong deeds came up before him. He wished that he had not left home. It then came into his mind to try it again.”
In 1822, his brother John Smith wrote to him, telling Peter about his new business venture In Plymouth, Mass. John had arranged for Peter’s passage to America. Lacking even a single penny in his pocket, Peter couldn’t buy a mattress for the journey, so he slept on the spare sails in the hold of the ship. Upon his arrival in Plymouth, Peter worked for his brother for $8 a month, with board and washing.
Peter Smith was a deeply religious man. He took part in religious revivals and, at one time, thought he might prepare for the ministry. He was a member of the West Parish Church for over 40 years, serving as Deacon, and Sunday School Superintendent.
He gave generously to Phillips Academy, Abbott Academy, Memorial Hall Library, the Theological Seminary, schools in his hometown of Brechin, as well as temperance and missionary societies. He was a strong supporter of the Scots’ Charitable Society. His contributions to The Home, a youth charity in Boston, was noted in the local newspaper and his obituary.
In his memorial it was noted, “you cannot cross the railroad without recalling his efforts to prevent its being desecrated on the Sabbath.”
ACHC #1989.507.1, Peter Smith driving his carriage at Forest Hill
In his work with Smith, Dove & Company, was known for his ingenuity and diligence. Company founder John Smith was the financial manager of the firm; Peter Smith was superintendent of the mills; and John Dove devoted himself to the mechanical side. Peter Smith was also a Trustee of the Broadway Savings Bank in Lawrence.
ACHC #1950.069.1, Smith, Dove & Company, Frye Village
Like his quiet friend and business partner John Dove, Peter Smith asked that his memorial services be kept simple and that he not be praised in his “obsequies,” or funeral rites. But the writer couldn’t restrain himself, “It was impossible not to remember at this time the widows our friend has made glad, the orphans he has comforted, the young men he has saved by wise words or counsel, the poor students he was aided…”
When Peter Smith died July 6, 1880, he left his estate to his wife Esther for the remainder of her life. Upon her death, the estate would go to his son Peter Dove Smith. By the 1950s, the Smith estate was too large for the grand-daughters who inherited it. After the death of Esther Ward Smith, the mansion was shuttered and razed.
Coming up, the story of Dove and Smith families’ ardent support of the abolitionism and anti-slavery movements.