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
New York City and Philadelphia, Black Family History
Box 1: 3
Julia Ann Smith, b. 1791(?)- d. 189?
Box 1: 4
Elizabeth Aubert Parker, b. 1813(?)- d. 1882
Box 1: 5
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
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
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
Lloyd A. Trent, Jr., 1931-1991
Box 2: 27
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
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
