COLLECTION GUIDES

1768-1950

Guide to the Collection

Restrictions on Access

The Vaughan family papers are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.


Collection Summary

Abstract

This collection consists of the papers of Benjamin Vaughan, physician, lawyer, diplomat, merchant, and agriculturist of Hallowell, Me., as well as the papers of his sons, merchants William O. Vaughan and Petty Vaughan, and many other Vaughan family members.

Biographical Sketches

Samuel Vaughan (1720-1802), a London merchant and Jamaican sugar plantation owner, married Sarah Hallowell (1727-1809) of Boston in 1747. The couple had ten children: Benjamin (1751-1835); William (1752-1850); Samuel (1754-1758); John (1756-1841); Ann (1757-1847); Charles (1759-1839); Sarah (1761-1818); Samuel (1762-1827); Barbara Eddy (1764-1820); Rebecca (1766-1851); and Hannah (1768-1770). Samuel Vaughan died in 1802. His wife Hannah died in England in 1809. Their properties in Jamaica and Hallowell, Me. were divided among their children.

Benjamin Vaughan (1751-1835), the son of Samuel and Sarah (Hallowell) Vaughan, was born in Jamaica. He held both law and medical degrees, but never formally practiced either profession. He worked as a banker for his brother-in-law in London, was a Parliamentary reformer and close friend of the Earl of Shelburne, helped negotiate for peace between England and the American colonies in 1782, left England for political reasons in 1794, and moved to Hallowell, Me. with his family in 1797. There he pursued his interest in science, philosophy, and agriculture. Benjamin Vaughan married in 1781 Sarah Manning (1754-1834), the daughter of a London merchant. The couple had seven children: Harriet (1782-1798); William Oliver (1783-1826); Sarah (1784-1847); Henry (1786-1806); Petty (1788-1854); Lucy (1790-1869); and Elizabeth Frances (1793-1855).

William Vaughan (1752-1850), the son of Samuel and Sarah (Hallowell) Vaughan, was a prosperous merchant in London, although he lost most of his money later in life.

Charles Vaughan (1759-1839), the son of Samuel and Sarah (Hallowell) Vaughan, was one of the earliest settlers of Hallowell, Me., arriving there around 1791. He became a merchant and had a great influence on the development of the town. He married in 1794 Frances Western Apthorp, whose brother-in-law was Charles Bulfinch. Their children where: John Apthorp (1795-1865); Charles (1804-1878); Hannah Frances (1812-1855); and Harriet (1801-1843).

Samuel Vaughan (1762-1827), the son of Samuel and Sarah (Hallowell) Vaughan, was a merchant and sugar plantation owner in Jamaica and never married. He probably died in 1827. Several published works have confused him with his father Samuel Vaughan, stating that he died in 1802.

Rebecca Vaughan (1766-1851), the daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Hallowell) Vaughan, married John Merrick (1766-1862), the tutor of Benjamin Vaughan's children who accompanied the family to America in 1795. He returned to England to marry Rebecca and then returned with her to Hallowell, where he became a prominent community leader. Their children were: Sarah Harriet (1799-1872); Samuel Vaughan (1801-1870); John (1804-1832); Mary Harrison (1805-1880); George (1807-1862); and Thomas Belsham (1813-1902).

William Oliver Vaughan (1783-1826), the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Manning) Vaughan, was a gentleman farmer, merchant, ship owner, and colonel in the Maine Militia, and he was active in town affairs. He married in 1806 Martha Agry (d. 1856). The couple had seven children: William Manning (1807-1891); Harriet Frances (1809-1846); Mary (1812-1814); Mary (1815-1816); Anna Maria (1817-1832); Henry (b. 1823); and Caroline (b. 1825).

Petty Vaughan (1788-1854), the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Manning), was a merchant and lieutenant in the Maine Militia. He went to London as a teenager to work with his uncle, William Vaughan, and returned later to spend most of his commercial career there.

Mary Harrison Merrick (1805-1880), the daughter of John and Rebecca (Vaughan) Merrick, married John P. Flagg, owner of an iron foundry in Hallowell. Mary (Merrick) Flagg was active in civic affairs in Hallowell.

William Manning Vaughan (1807-1891), the son of William Oliver and Martha (Agry) Vaughan, was a supercargo onboard several ships sailing for Calcutta in the 1820s and '30s. He later moved to Cambridge, Mass., where he set himself up in business and was active in civic and church affairs. He married in 1832 Ann Tryphena Warren (1810-1889), the daughter of Ebenezer T. and Abiah (Morse) Warren. They had three children: Emma Gardner (1835-1844); Benjamin (1837-1912); and William Warren (b. 1848).

Ebenezer Warren (1749-1824) was born in Newbury, Mass. and was a brother of General Joseph and Dr. John Warren. He was a member of the state convention that adopted the federal constitution and was frequently elected to the state legislature. In 1793, he was appointed Justice of the Common Pleas, where he served until 1811. He married Ann Tucker (d. 1816) of Boston. The couple had at least nine children, one of whom was Ebenezer T. Warren (1779-1830). Ebenezer Warren died in Foxborough, Mass.

Ebenezer Tucker Warren (1779-1830), the son of Ebenezer and Ann (Tucker) Warren, was born in Foxborough, Mass. He received his A.B. from Harvard in 1800 and his A.M. in 1803. He was an overseer of Bowdoin College from 1821 to 1830. He resided in Hallowell, Me., apparently from the time of his marriage to his death in 1830. He was a lawyer, federal county attorney for Kennebec County, a justice of the peace, and a Massachusetts senator in 1816. He was president of the Hallowell and the Kennebec Banks for a number of years and a charter member of the Jerusalem Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons in Hallowell. Warren married Abiah Morse and had two children: Ann Tryphena (1810-1889) and John (b. 1816). Warren died suddenly in Quincy, Ill. while inspecting soldiers' land claims.

Samuel Stevens Warren (b. 1793), the son of Ebenezer and Ann (Tucker) Warren, was born in Foxborough, Mass. He was an attorney in Maine, working sometimes with his brother Ebenezer T. Warren.

Sources

For more biographical information, see the following sources:

Marvin, Mary Vaughan. Benjamin Vaughan, 1751-1835. [Hallowell, Me.]: [s.n.], 1979.

Nason, Emma Huntington. Old Hallowell on the Kennebec. Augusta, Me.: [Press of Burleigh & Flint], 1909.

Collection Description

The Vaughan family papers fall into two large divisions: Vaughan Papers (Series I-V) and Warren Papers (Series VI-VIII). The Vaughan papers consist of correspondence; military, business, and miscellaneous papers; and bound volumes, primarily of Benjamin, William O., and Petty Vaughan of Hallowell, Me. The Warren papers consist of correspondence, business and legal papers, and bound volumes of Ebenezer T. Warren of Hallowell, Me., whose daughter Ann married William Manning Vaughan.

Restrictions on Access

The Vaughan family papers are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Vaughan family, 1986.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Expand all

Preferred Citation

Vaughan family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Persons:

Chandler, John, 1762-1841.
Curtis, Samuel.
Flagg, John P.
Perley, Nathaniel, 1770-1824.
Ring, Benjamin.
Ripley, Eleazar Wheelock, 1782-1839.
Vaughan, Benjamin, 1751-1835.
Vaughan, Petty, 1788-1854.
Vaughan, William Oliver, 1783-1826.
Warren, Ebenezer, 1749-1824.
Warren, Ebenezer Tucker, 1779-1830.
Warren, Samuel S., 1793-
Warren family.

Organizations:

Adeline (Ship).
Cambridge Social Union (Mass.).
Caroline (Ship).
Federal Party (Me.).
Female Benevolent Society (Hallowell, Me.).
First Baptist Church (Hallowell, Me.).
First Church (Cambridge, Mass.).
Hannah (Ship).
Hoogley (Ship).
Kennebec Bank (Augusta, Me.).
Liverpool Packet (Ship).
Maine Agricultural Society.

Subjects:

Account books--1804-1858.
Agriculture--Diaries.
Agriculture--Maine.
Calcutta (India)--Commerce--Maine.
Courts--Maine.
England--Commerce--Maine.
Hallowell (Me.)--History.
India trade.
Iron foundries--Maine.
Lawyers--Maine.
Lumber trade--Maine.
Maine--Commerce--England.
Maine--Commerce--India--Calcutta.
Maine--Commerce--West Indies.
Maine--Militia.
Maine--Politics and government.
Medicine.
Merchants--Maine.
Real property--Maine.
Shipping.
Slavery--Jamaica.
United States--History--War of 1812.
West Indies--Commerce--Maine.

Click the description headings to expand their contents, and click the red REQUEST buttons to add items to your request.

Click here to cancel