Call Number:

0614

Repository:

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Extent:

2.5 linear feet (; 5 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], William H. L. Smith papers (Collection 0614), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1836-1869 (inclusive)

Creator:

Smith, William H. L.

Abstract:

Mr. William Henry Leland Smith was born in Vermont and received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, and his law degree from Harvard University. In the 1860s, he became the first mayor of Corry, Pennsylvania, shortly after oil was discovered in Pennsylvania and the oil industry grew in the commonwealth. For much of his life, he managed the Corry plant of the Downer Kerosene Oil Company. The collection is arranged into three series: incoming correspondence, miscellaneous business records, and miscellaneous legal records.

William Henry Leland Smith was born in Lowell, Vermont, on November 16, 1824, to Henry and Maria (Leland) Smith. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1845, and received his law degree from Harvard University in 1848. He practiced law in Boston from 1848 to 1860. He became the first mayor of Corry, Pennsylvania, in the mid 1860s, and died in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on December 29, 1889 at the age of 65. He was the manager of the Corry plant of the Downer Kerosene Oil Company in the 1860s.

Smith was also involved in legal matters regarding the patent of Luther Atwood for a “better processing for extracting oils” from bio and shale materials. He also managed the estates of Mary (Wright) Brown (1844) and Samuel R. Philbrick (1856-1863). Smith also entered in some copartnerships with members of the Downer Kerosene Oil Company, but these projects failed and had to be legally dissolved. The Corry plant and other companies boomed in western Pennsylvania in the 1860s, as oil was discovered in the region, and by the beginning of the next century, the United States had become the world's largest oil producer.

A book written by Mr. Smith was published posthumously, entitled The practice in proceedings in the probate courts of Massachusetts with an appendix of uniform forms and rules approved by the Supreme Judicial Court.

The Smith papers are housed in five boxes and span the years 1836 through 1869. The collection is arranged into three series.

Boxes 1 through 4 consist of incoming correspondence to William H. L. Smith from 1858 through 1869. Most of this correspondence is from Samuel Downer, owner of the Downer Kerosene Oil Company, and concerns daily business issues.

Box 4 consists of business records, including bills, receipts, accounts, the Atwood re-distillation patent, and other petroleum documents.

Box 5 consists of legal records, including land deeds, the Samuel Philbrick Estate documents, and agreement documents between individuals.