Smith, Edwin (fl. 1831 - 1871)

Edwin Smith (fl. 1831 - 1871) was a New York City based municipal and commercial surveyor active in the middle part of the 19th century. He was appointed to the Office of the City Surveyor in March of 1831. Smith was an extremely active surveyor with a large corpus of work, most of which was not published and survives only in manuscript. Nonetheless, some of Smith's survey work seems to provide the underlying cartography for maps later published by John Bute Holmes (March 31, 1822 - c. 1888), another New York Surveyor and map publisher active around the same time. Holmes was something of a scoundrel, and it is not unlikely that he may have taken credit for Smith's work. Smith maintained offices with George W. Smith (a relative?) at 51 West 24th Street. Most of Smith's surviving work is held in New York City archives, including the New York Historical Society, the archive of the City Clerk's Office, the New York Public Library, and the Museum of the City of New York.