Research Catalog
Adam W. Spies real estate and genealogy scrapbook
- Title
- Adam W. Spies real estate and genealogy scrapbook, 1828-1930 (bulk 1828-1887).
- Author
- Spies, Adam W. (Adam William), 1800-1891.
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1 Item
| Status | Container | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | box 1 | Mixed material | Request in advance | MssCol 22287 box 1 | Schwarzman Building - Manuscripts & Archives Room 328 |
Details
- Description
- .25 linear foot (1 box)
- Summary
- Adam W. Spies (1800-1891), the son of Mary Bergh and John Spies, was a hardware and military goods merchant in New York City. He was employed by the firm of C. & J. D. Wolfe, and was their agent in England in the 1820s. In 1834 he established A. W. Spies & Company, later Spies, Kissam & Company, retiring in 1866. He acquired extensive landholdings in New York City, upstate New York, and numerous other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Wisconsin, among others. In 1832 he married Sarah Ann Morrison (d. 1883), daughter of John C. Morrison of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Spies was a founding member of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.
- The Adam W. Spies real estate and genealogy scrapbook is primarily a record of his real estate transactions, containing numerous manuscript plat maps, many in watercolor with extensive annotations; a few printed maps; listings of properties, taxes and assessments; and legal notes. Holdings in Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn are especially well documented. Genealogical materials include charts and notes concerning the Spies, Morrison, and Bergh families, and autobiographical accounts, with advice to grandchildren, recalling his career, his service as a volunteer fireman, and life in Manhattan prior to the building of the Erie Canal and Croton Aqueduct. The volume also contains pasted clippings, certificates and receipts, cut silhouettes of Spies, and a few sketches, notably a watercolor street view by Spies of his father's place of business in Manhattan as depicted in 1808. There are some miscellaneous letters and notes relating to family and real estate matters, some loose, including a genealogical inquiry to his son-in-law John W. Cochrane dated 1907. A few of Spies's genealogical entries are updated to 1930.
- The scrapbook has multiple and duplicate paginations, with gaps: Index, p. 1-48, 50-58, [3 p.]; property maps with index, p. 0-100; and additional genealogical and autobiographical material, p. 133-143; 137-138, 139 (2 leaves), 142-155. Text and maps are separately indexed.
- Subjects
- Real property > United States
- Williamsburg (New York, N.Y.)
- Berg family
- Morrison family
- Clippings
- New York (N.Y.) > Social life and customs > 19th century
- Philanthropists
- Manuscript maps
- Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)
- Memoirs
- Spies family
- New York (State) > Genealogy
- Merchants
- Watercolors
- Landowners
- Fire fighters
- Drawings
- New York (N.Y.) > Fire Department
- Real estate management > United States
- Scrapbooks
- Silhouettes
- Cadastral maps
- Spies, Adam W (Adam William), 1800-1891
- Genre/Form
- Cadastral maps.
- Clippings.
- Drawings.
- Manuscript maps.
- Memoirs.
- Scrapbooks.
- Silhouettes.
- Watercolors.
- Access (note)
- Advance notice required. Apply at http://www.nypl.org/mssref.
- Source (note)
- Purchased from Antipodean Books, 2013
- Call Number
- MssCol 22287
- OCLC
- 881462381
- Author
- Spies, Adam W. (Adam William), 1800-1891.
- Title
- Adam W. Spies real estate and genealogy scrapbook, 1828-1930 (bulk 1828-1887).
- Restricted Access
- Advance notice required. Apply at http://www.nypl.org/mssref.
- Source
- Purchased from Antipodean Books, 2013
- Occupation
- Fire fighters.Landowners.Merchants.Philanthropists.
- Research Call Number
- MssCol 22287