An Uncommon Woman: The Life of Lydia Hamilton Smith

by Mark Kelley

Lydia Hamilton Smith (1813–1884) was a prominent African American businesswoman in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the longtime housekeeper, life companion, and collaborator of the state’s abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens. In his biography of this remarkable woman, Mark Kelley reveals how Smith served the cause of abolition, managed Stevens’s household, acquired property, and crossed racialized social boundaries. Born a free woman near Gettysburg, Smith began working for Stevens in 1844. Her relationship with Stevens fascinated and infuriated many, and it made Smith a highly recognizable figure both locally and nationally. The two walked side by side in Lancaster and in Washington, DC, as they worked to secure the rights of African Americans, sheltered people on the Underground Railroad, managed two households, raised her sons and his nephews, and built a real-estate business. In the last years of Stevens’s life, as his declining health threatened to short-circuit his work, Smith risked her own well-being to keep him alive while he led the drive to end slavery, impeach Andrew Johnson, and push for the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. An Uncommon Woman is a vital history that accords Lydia Hamilton Smith the recognition that she deserves. Every American should know Smith’s inspiring story.

Genres: History, Biography

280 pages, Paperback

Published November 21, 2023

About the author

Mark Kelley is a veteran of more than 20 years in broadcast news, both radio and television. He has worked as a news producer, reporter, and until June, 1999, he served as main anchor for WNDU- TV in South Bend, IN.
He attended Houghton College, graduated with a BA from the State University of New York at Geneseo, and later earned an MS in Telecommunications and a Ph.D. in Mass Communications from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
Kelley has taught at Goshen College in Indiana, Syracuse University, the University of Maine in Orono, the New England School of Communications in Bangor, ME, and Millersville University (PA).
He is the author of five books: a novel, Berman’s Lament (2000, available from the author), a non-fiction book, Engaging News Media: A Practical Guide for People of Faith (2006, available from Amazon), Rain of Ruin (2011, available from Amazon ). and This Mere Existence: Motivation and Strategies for Restoring Human Rights (2018, available from Amazon). His biography of Lydia Hamilton Smith, mixed-race companion, partner, and so much more of Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens in the mid-nineteenth century, "An Uncommon Woman" is expected to be out from Penn State University Press by November 10, 2023. Once one of the most widely known women in the country, Lydia Hamilton Smith faded from view (with help from racists like Thomas Dixon and D.W. Griffith). "An Uncommon Woman" is the author's contribution to winning Mrs. Smith the prominent place in US history that she deserves.
Contact the author: kelleymark2@gmail.com, 24 S. West End Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603

Reviews

[Vanessa M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heartily enjoyed reading Dr. Kelley’s book about Lydia Hamilton Smith, a figure of whom I’d never heard. Mrs. Smith was Thaddeus Stevens’ housekeeper and as Dr. Kelley convincingly argues, his longtime companion. Her race was what was described at the time as ‘quadroon,’ a person with one-quarter African or Aboriginal blood and three-quarters European. Mrs. Smith endured the effects of racism from those with wrong-headed mindsets, especially since she was a live-in household member of a white lawyer and politician. In Dr. Kelley’s book, he describes her childhood, coming of age, marriage and family background and how she came to manage Thaddeus Stevens’ household. When he was in poor and failing health, she was his main caregiving person—doing cleaning and dressing for his body that others were not willing to do.

Sadly after his passing, she had much trouble receiving the wages that Stevens promised her for caring for him and the book goes into great detail about the legal proceedings surrounding that incident.

Something from the book that stood out to me: that of the honor guard comprising of Butler’s Black Zouaves. They had respectfully taken part in the lying in state at the Capitol in Washington and accompanied Stevens’ remains to Lancaster, PA where the funeral would be held. Once they arrived to Lancaster, the family was told that arrangements for the funeral were already made and that the militiamen could not perform their honor guard duties nor attend the funeral. This was a great offense and rub to the family of the deceased abolitionist and something for Lancastrians (and Pennsylvanians) to have to contend with today.

This was a 4.5 star read for me. The only slight detraction was that Dr. Kelley would mention the same pieces of information in two or three places, as if the reader had missed them for the first time. I really like his way of writing and will look out for other articles, current and future books.

[Shirley Showalter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Kelley deserves enormous thanks for the hard work he did to excavate the story of Lydia Hamilton Smith. Like the author, I grew up in Lancaster County, PA. Like him, I never heard of Lydia Hamilton Smith, one of Lancaster's most famous persons, until much later in life when I began to teach Women's Studies classes. And even then, she was a footnote in the books. She has long deserved to have her own story told. Mark Kelley has carefully brushed away the layers of dust over her grave, doing the hard work of scholarship in primary sources and discovering forgotten images and books. Since there are many unknowable facts about her life, he stays carefully within the bounds of what is known. The big question of whether Lydia Smith was Thaddeus Stevens' lover as well as his housekeeper is not answered definitively but the author shows us the reasoning that drove him to the same conclusion Steven Spielberg illustrated in the movie Lincoln -- an intimacy of the highest order existed between the two.

The teaching of American history was distorted by the rise of the "Lost Cause" ideology early in the 20th century. Thomas Dixon, Jr.'s book The Clansman and D. W. Griffith's Birth of A Nation did not just influence the South. It influenced the North also. When the Civil War was taught in the South, slavery as a cause was either denied or subordinated to the idea of "state's rights," and rebellion against the U.S. was seen as liberation from an oppressive federal government. Even in the North, where Abolitionists like Thaddeus Stevens had once railed against Southern "traitors" and "insurrectionists," the historians of the mid-twentieth century no longer used strong language like that and became more sympathetic to the South. In the time of Jim Crow, whites both the North and the South were afraid of Black power. And the narrative about slavery moved from how horrible it was to how horrible, and unsuccessful, Reconstruction was. The erection of monuments to Confederate generals, the widespread use of the Confederate battle flag, and the flattering portrait of Robert E. Lee created passionate loyalty in the South and sympathy for whites and apathy about black suffering in the North.

The majority of today's historians recognize how insidious the "Lost Cause" narrative was to the truth about the causes of the war and how it supported racism.

So reviving interest in Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith, recovering their important roles in the abolition of slavery and in the creation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, is very important work. Mark Kelley has made a huge contribution to that work in the writing of this book.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lydia Hamilton Smith's story - her accomplishments and her generosity - faded from memory soon after she was gone. Thomas Dixon resurrected her name, briefly, in his disgustingly racist novel The Clansman in 1905, but only to vilify her along with Thaddeus Stevens. Stevens's considerable contributions to the nation were likewise largely overlooked until the 1930s, when biographers rediscovered his legacy. Some of those biographers noticed Mrs. Smith standing at Stevens's side; some did not."

hopefully this work will do much to bring more notice to Mrs. Smith (as the author respectfully and faithfully refers to her throughout the book). I enjoyed reading it and appreciate the level of research that went into this project. the genealogist in me was excited at every insight proferred by Kelley about her very public and yet also private life as the likely romantic life companion of Thaddeus Stevens.

[Tammy Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Lancaster-born native of Pennsylvania, this book appealed to me on a very local level. My familiarity with Thaddeus Stevens was mostly limited to the tech school they bears his name.

This book allowed me to learn more about Mr Stevens, while introducing me to Mrs Smith.

I am looking forward to the museum opening, at South Queen Street, next year. After reading this book, I have a better insight into who these two remarkable figures were.

This book isn’t just about Lancaster History or American History. It is about the attitudes of the 19th Century about people of color and their roles in History. It is also about a remarkable woman of color breaking barriers of not just race but also gender.

The author leaves it to the reader to decide for themselves if Mrs Smith and Mr Stevens were more than just housekeeper and householder.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read!