Lloyd A. Trent, Jr. Family Papers

1850-1996
3 boxes (1.5 linear ft.)
Call no.: MS 373
rotating decorative images from SCUA collections

Over five generations, the African-American Trent worked toward commercial success and wealth through the restaurant and catering business as well as extensive real estate investments at the turn of the 20th century in New York City, Brooklyn, and Sea Cliff, Long Island, New York.



Focused primarily on family and genealogy, the Trent family collection contains letters, public and church records, news clippings, ephemera, a videotape, and 87 photographs.

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Background on Creator:

Over five generations, the African-American Trent worked toward commercial success and wealth through the restaurant and catering business as well as extensive real estate investments at the turn of the 20th century in New York City, Brooklyn, and Sea Cliff, Long Island, New York.

Scope of collection

The Lloyd A. Trent Jr. Family Collection (1850-1996) comprises letters, public and church records, news clippings, and other documents, as well as 87 photographs, which together illuminate the lives of five generations of an African-American family that achieved commercial success and wealth through the restaurant and catering business as well as extensive real estate investments at the turn of the 20th Century in New York City, Brooklyn, and Sea Cliff, Long Island, New York.

The collection spans generations of William Henry Smith and his wife Ursuline Parker Smith's (1846-1930) families, from 1791, the approximate date of birth of William Henry Smith's mother, Julie Ann Beers (?), to the 1970s when Lloyd A. Trent, Jr. (1931-1991), a great grandson of William Henry Smith (1836-1923) whose life is the centerpiece of the collection, and Brooke Trent actively pursued the search for family documents.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into seven series:

Inventory

Series 1. Family Search Data


Family Research Material
1975-1986, 1996
Box 1: 1
Family Trees


Box 1: 2
New York City and Philadelphia, Black Family History


Box 1: 3
Series 2. Generation 1


Julia Ann Smith, b. 1791(?)- d. 189?


Box 1: 4
Elizabeth Aubert Parker, b. 1813(?)- d. 1882


Box 1: 5
Series 3. Generation 2


Parker:


Box 1: 6
Eugenia Ann, b. 1832


Peter, b. 1836


Joseph Washington, b. 1848- d. 1915?


wife, Priscilla, b. 1868(?)- d. 1929


Elizabeth Ursula [Ursuline] Parker Smith, b. 1846- d. 1930


Box 1: 7
William H. Smith, Jr., b. 1836- d. 1923: Biographical Material


Box 1: 8
William H. Smith, Jr. Marriage and Anniversaries


Box 1: 9
William H. Smith, Jr. Clubs and Affiliations


Box 1: 10
William H. Smith, Jr. Residence, Work- Places, Restaurants


Box 1: 11
William H. Smith, Jr. Death Certificate/Cemetery Documents


Box 2: 12
William H. Smith, Jr. Wills


Box 2: 13
Letters from Elizabeth Ursula
1897 - 1930
Box 2: 14
[Ursuline] Parker Smith (with a few from William H. Smith).


from NYC and Sea Cliff, Long Island, NY to their daughter,


Marie (Bela) Smith Warrick in Philadelphia, PA.


Dated Correspondence
c1894 (bulk c 1898 - 1903), c1921
Box 2: 15
Series 4. Generation 3


Joseph Frances Xavier Smith [Frank], b. 1868- d. 1943


Box 2: 16
Maria Eugennie Smith Warrick [Bela], b. 1869- d.1946, William Henry Warrick, her husband, b. 1867- d. 1941


Box 2: 17
Kate Bowers Smith Dickerson Payne, b. 1872- d. 1962


Box 2: 18
William Henry Smith, Jr. [Willie], b. 1875-c1952, Elizabeth Bishop Smith-Bundick, his wife, d. 1959


Box 2: 19
Worden Alexander Smith, b. 1877- d. 1957, Gertrude Richardson Smith Campbell, b. 1883- d. 1983


Box 2: 20
Louis Sheldon Smith [Louie], b. 1878- d. 1956, Effie (?) Smith, his wife b. 1886- d. 1936


Box 2: 21
Bernard Parker Smith [Parker], b. 1883- d. 1952, Roberta Fernandez Smith, his wife, d. 1964


Box 2: 22
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, sculptor and sister of William H. Warrick (Folder 2), b. 1877- d. 1968


Box 2: 23
Miscellaneous Diploma and other School Documents


Box 2: 24
Series 5. Generation 4


Mabel Eleanor Smith Trent, b. 1904- d. 1970, Lloyd A Trent, her husband, b. 1904- d. 1986


Box 2: 25
Dorothy Warrick Taylor, b. 1902- d. 1994


Box 2: 26
Series 6. Generation 5


Lloyd A. Trent, Jr., 1931-1991


Box 2: 27
Series 7. Photographs


Photo portraits of Generation I


Box 3: 28
Photo portraits of Generation 2


Box 3: 29
Photo portraits of Generation 3


Box 3: 30
Generations 2, 3 and 4 at Family Gatherings, Sea Cliff, Long Island, NY
c. 1885-1910
Box 3: 31
Group Photos of Generations 2, 3 and 4


Box 3: 31
Generations 4 and 5


Box 3: 33
William H. Smith's Homes and Properties


Box 3: 34
Cemeteries where Smiths and Parkers are buried


Box 3: 35
Photocopies of some of photos, (Folders 1-8)


Box 3: 36
Charles Edward Mitchell, US Ambassador to Liberia, Photos and other Memorabilia of Mitchell and wife
c1930
Box 3: 37
Unidentified Daguerreotype/Tintypes


Box 3: 38

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of Brooke Trent, widow of Lloyd A. Trent, Jr., 1995.

Processing Information

Processed by Brooke Trent, 1995.

Language:

English

Acknowledgments

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Copyright and Use (More information )

Cite as: Lloyd A. Trent, Jr. Family Papers (MS 373). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Search terms

Subjects

  • African American capitalists and financiers--New York (State)
  • African American families--New York (State)
  • African Americans--Genealogy--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
  • African Americans--New York (State)
  • African Americans--New York (State)--Social life and customs
  • Burleigh, H. T. (Harry Thacker), 1866-1949
  • Capitalists and financiers--New York (State)
  • Fuller, Meta Warrick, 1877-1968
  • Landowners--New York (State)
  • Restaurateurs--New York (State)
  • Smith, William H. (William Henry), 1836-1923--Family

Contributors

  • Trent family [main entry]

Genres and formats

  • Baptismal certificates
  • Deeds
  • Genealogies
  • Photographs
  • Vital statistics records
  • Wills

Link to similar SCUA collections