Benjamin Vaughan#6, and his brother Charles could be considered early “founding fathers” of Hallowell, Maine. While not the earliest of Hallowell settlers they were men of importance and influence who settled in the region in its formative days.
Benjamin Vaughan was friends with Benjamin Franklin and corresponded with Thomas Jefferson for many years, including during Jefferson’s presidency.
The Vaughan family home built in 1794 can still be seen and visited in Hallowell on the 194 acre property.
I painted Mr. Vaughan in the act writing a letter to President Jefferson to show his importance to the nation and influence with the nation’s founding fathers.
Artist, Chris Cart
Born in Jamaica, Benjamin moved to England with his parents Samuel and Sarah Vaughan shortly after his birth. Benjamin was educated in England, attending Trinity Hall, Cambridge and later studying medicine at University of Edinburgh.
He was a medical doctor, diplomat, political economist, merchant, a member of Parliament and British commissioner whose task was to smooth negotiations between Britain and U.S. during the drafting of the Treaty of Paris.
In 1805 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. one of the oldest learned societies in the nation, founded in 1780 by several of our nation’s founding fathers including John Adams, John Hancock, and James Bowdoin.
An educated family
Benjamin Vaughan spent his early life in England until moving to Hallowell in 1794.
When Benjamin Vaughan moved his wife Sarah Manning and seven children from England to Hallowell, Maine in 1797, he brought his extensive library, which rivalled the library at Harvard University of the time with close to ten thousand volumes.
Vaughan brought Elizabeth Palmer Peabody to Hallowell as governess and educator to his daughters and sons. Vaughan wanted all his children to be well educated and capable thinkers.
Vaughan was beloved by Hallowell for his philanthropic efforts in the community.
The Vaughan family wealth came from the large sugar and coffee plantations on the island of Jamaica run by Benjamin’s father Samuel.
Portrait of Dr. Benjamin Vaughan, circa 1800, artist unknown.
I recently read a more detailed and interesting history of Benjamin Vaughan’s move to Hallowell. Vaughan was involved in the peace negotiations to end the American Revolution. In 1794 he was imprisoned for a short time in France, where he was suspected of being a British spy, narrowly escaping the guillotine. He eventually fled to Switzerland and then later in 1797 moved his family to Hallowell to take over the estate built by his brother Charles in 1794.
Artist, Chris Cart
Samuel Vaughan, painting by Robert Edge Pine – Government Art Collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26142665
the Vaughan family legacy
There was some discussion with the Vaughan Woods and Historic Homestead organization about how to portray Dr. Benjamin Vaughan. While his personal connection and influence on early Hallowell was grandly beneficial, the family wealth was originally derived from his father Samuel Vaughan’s plantations on Jamaica, lands worked by hundreds of enslaved people.
Samuel Vaughan first made his way to Jamaica as an indentured apprentice. By 1747 records show Samuel Vaughan had long since fulfilled his apprenticeship and become wealthy enough to ask for the hand of Sarah Hallowell as his wife, daughter to Benjamin Hallowell for whom Hallowell, Maine is named. Samuel became very wealthy with multiple plantations on Jamaica, mainly around St. James Parish, primarily growing sugar cane, coffee and raising cattle for draft animals. These lands were all worked by over 700 enslaved people.
Two of Benjamin’s brothers managed the affairs of the Jamaica plantations and enslaved workers after the death of their father. Benjamin seems never to have had direct involvement in the working of the plantations. Though it is not disputed that Benjamin Vaughan’s wealth derived directly from the labors of the enslaved people on the family plantations.
In his first speech to British Parliament after his election in 1792 Benjamin Vaughan defended slavery in Jamaica. And yet, just two years later he spoke in favor of the abolition of the slave trade and the “prudent” end to slavery.
There is evidence among the correspondence between Vaughan family members that the Vaughan’s, while never emancipating their enslaved workers, were at the vanguard in trying to improve the lives of their enslaved workers, providing humane quarters, education and religious services and caring for the young and elderly too old to work. They also spoke out in favor of legislation to protect enslaved workers from cruelty.
In one letter of 1792 Samuel’s wife Sarah Hallowell Vaughan wrote of the much debated topic of the time about eventual emancipation of slaves. She acknowledge the detrimental impact this would have on the family wealth, so tied as it was to enslaved labor, and yet she conceded this was the inevitable result necessary for any humanitarian progress.
The Vaughan’s enslaved workers were not fully freed until 1838 after the British enactment of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 abolishing slavery in the British West Indies and then a four year transition period of “indentured apprenticeship.
Outside the window I included barrels of plantation sugar to reference the legacy of slavery in the family wealth.
Leave a Reply