Lydia Hamilton Smith was born in 1813 near Gettysburg. She was a free Black woman of mixed race. She married and had two sons, but the marriage ended.
The Stevens household
Around 1848 she went to work for Thaddeus Stevens, the lawyer and politician, in Lancaster. She ran his household and managed his affairs for the rest of his life, more than 20 years. She was also known as a capable businesswoman in her own right.
The house on South Queen Street had a cistern in the backyard that historians believe was used to hide people escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad.
Her own property
Smith bought property in Lancaster and elsewhere, including Stevens’ former house in Washington, D.C. After Stevens died in 1868, his will left her money and the choice of furniture from the house. She went on to run a boarding house in Washington and continued to buy and sell property.
Recognition
Smith died in 1884. For many years she was remembered mostly through gossip about her relationship with Stevens. Historians and LancasterHistory have worked to tell her story as a businesswoman and as part of the city’s Black history.
The Stevens and Smith Historic Site in downtown Lancaster is being developed to tell both of their stories.