ALONG SOUTH QUEEN STREET IN LANCASTER, THERE鈥橲 A PLAQUE RECOGNIZING THE HOME OF ABOLITIONIST THADDEUS STEVENS. SOON, THE BRICK THREE STORY WILL BE KNOWN AS THE STEVENS AND SMITH CENTER FOR HISTORY AND DEMOCRACY. IT WAS VERY MUCH BOTH OF THEIR HOMES. STEVENS BUYS THIS PROPERTY IN 1844 AT A SHERIFF鈥橲 SALE. HE DOESN鈥橳 MOVE IN HERE FOR SEVERAL YEARS, AND WHEN HE DOES, HE MOVES IN HERE WITH LYDIA HAMILTON SMITH. LYDIA HAMILTON SMITH SERVED AS STEVENS HOUSE MANAGER AND COMPANION UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1868. THE TWO WERE KNOWN TO BE ACTIVE IN THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD EXCAVATION. UNDER THE HOME THEY SHARED, FOUND HIDDEN PASSAGEWAYS THAT SOME THINK MAY HAVE BEEN USED TO HIDE RUNAWAY SLAVES. WHILE SMITH鈥橲 LIFE WAS DEEPLY INTERTWINED WITH STEVENS AS HE FOUGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF BLACKS, SHE HAS HER OWN STORY TO TELL. WE KNOW HER MOTHER WAS A FREE WOMAN OF COLOR. WE THANK HER FATHER WAS IRISH. LANCASTER HISTORY PRESIDENT ROBIN SURRATT BELIEVES SMITH鈥橲 LIFE WOULDN鈥橳 HAVE BEEN EASY AS A MIXED RACE WOMAN IN THE 1840S. 50S 60S. LIFE IS CHALLENGING. SHE IS ESSENTIALLY STRIPPED OF CITIZENSHIP ALONG WITH ANY OTHER BLACK PERSON IN THE UNITED STATES. IN 1857. SMITH DIDN鈥橳 LET THAT STOP HER, THOUGH SHE EVENTUALLY PURCHASED THE HOME SHE SHARED WITH STEVENS AND WENT ON TO BUY MORE THAN A DOZEN PROPERTIES IN LANCASTER, GETTYSBURG, AND WASHINGTON, D.C. SHE THRIVES AS THIS ENTREPRENEUR, THIS BUSINESSWOMAN WHO IS EARNING QUITE A LOT OF MONEY IN A MOMENT WHERE AS A WOMAN, BUT ALSO AS A BLACK WOMAN, IT鈥橲 A PRETTY EXCEPTIONAL STORY, ONE THAT WILL SOON HAVE A PLACE IN HISTORY IN L
Pennsylvania woman went from housekeeper to property owner in challenging era
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Updated: 4:21 AM CDT Mar 22, 2025
Lydia Hamilton Smith's story is deeply entwined with abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, but she has her own story to tell.The home they shared on South Queen Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, will soon be known as the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy."It was very much both of their homes. Stevens buys this property in 1844 at a sheriff sale. He doesn't move in here for several years, and when he does, he moves in here with Lydia Hamilton Smith," said Robin Sarratt, president of LancasterHistory.Smith served as Stevens' house manager and companion until his death in 1868.The two were active in the Underground Railroad. An excavation under the home they shared found hidden passageways that some think may have been used to hide runaway slaves.Sarratt believes Smith's life wouldn't have been easy."We know her mother was a free woman of color. We think her father was Irish. As a mixed-race woman in the 1840s, '50s, '60s, life is challenging. She is essentially stripped of citizenship along with any other Black person in the United States in 1857," she said.Smith didn't let that stop her.She eventually purchased the home she shared with Stevens and went on to buy more than a dozen properties in Lancaster, Gettysburg and Washington, D.C."She thrives as this entrepreneur, this businesswoman who is earning quite a lot of money in a moment where, as a woman, but also as a Black woman, it's a pretty exceptional story," Sarratt said.
LANCASTER, Pa. — Lydia Hamilton Smith's story is deeply entwined with abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, but she has her own story to tell.
The home they shared on South Queen Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, will soon be known as the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy.
"It was very much both of their homes. Stevens buys this property in 1844 at a sheriff sale. He doesn't move in here for several years, and when he does, he moves in here with Lydia Hamilton Smith," said Robin Sarratt, president of LancasterHistory.
Smith served as Stevens' house manager and companion until his death in 1868.
The two were active in the Underground Railroad. An excavation under the home they shared found hidden passageways that some think may have been used to hide runaway slaves.
Sarratt believes Smith's life wouldn't have been easy.
"We know her mother was a free woman of color. We think her father was Irish. As a mixed-race woman in the 1840s, '50s, '60s, life is challenging. She is essentially stripped of citizenship along with any other Black person in the United States in 1857," she said.
Smith didn't let that stop her.
She eventually purchased the home she shared with Stevens and went on to buy more than a dozen properties in Lancaster, Gettysburg and Washington, D.C.
"She thrives as this entrepreneur, this businesswoman who is earning quite a lot of money in a moment where, as a woman, but also as a Black woman, it's a pretty exceptional story," Sarratt said.
