John Vaughan (15 January 1756 – 30 December 1841) was a wine merchant, philanthropist, and long-time treasurer and librarian of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. A native of England, Vaughan settled in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
in 1782, becoming a respected citizen of the city, and working for literary, scientific and benevolent causes. During five decades of service to the Society, Vaughan was instrumental in building its library collection and introducing many scientists and historians to each other through his letters and Sunday breakfasts.
Life
John Vaughan was born in London on 15 January 1756, one of ten surviving children of
Samuel Frier Vaughan, a London
merchant banker and
West India planter, and Sarah Hallowell, daughter of Benjamin Hallowell, a
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
merchant and founder of
Hallowell, Maine
Hallowell is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,570 at the 2020 census. Popular with tourists, Hallowell is noted for its culture and old architecture. Hallowell is included in the Augusta, Maine, micropolitan ...
. The family were liberals who attended the
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
, later
Unitarian,
Gravel Pit Chapel,
Hackney, where the dissenting minister and political radical
Richard Price
Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer, pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French ...
preached.
As with his four brothers
Benjamin Vaughan, Vaughan attended
Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the established Church of England. It was located in Warrington (then ...
, 1772-1774. In preparation for a mercantile career, John Vaughan was sent abroad, first to Jamaica (1776), and then to France (1778), where he worked for a merchant house in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, and met
Benjamin Franklin. In 1778, following the signing of the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce, Vaughan, who, as a British subject, was faced with possible arrest or deportation, declared himself an American. However, he was unable to procure a certificate to that effect, and resided in Spain for a while before removing to the United States in 1782. Vaughan settled in Philadelphia, where he became a prosperous wine merchant, with warehouse and offices at 109 & 111, South Front Street, in the commercial quarter.
Vaughan became a member of the American Philosophical Society, 16 January 1784, and subsequently dedicated much of his energy and resources to the
Society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
. He became a member, 16 January 1784, its treasurer in 1791, and librarian in 1803, serving in these posts until his death. Vaughan kept the society's books and accounts, and oversaw its publications. In 1824 he compiled a catalogue for the library which he hoped would one day become a
national library
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...
. In 1795, he subscribed towards the proposed western expedition of the French botanist
André Michaux
André Michaux, also styled Andrew Michaud, (8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specimens in England, Spain, France, and even Per ...
. Though not a scholar himself, Vaughan encouraged and supported the work of scholars, especially those interested in
Native American linguistics and ethno-history. He remained a close friend of the Portuguese botanist and geologist
José Francisco Correia da Serra, who lived in Philadelphia from 1812 and 1820 and who served for the latter half of this time as ambassador to the United States from
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
.
Vaughan contributed generously to the construction of
Philosophical Hall, in which he established his offices, whose cellars he rented for the storage of his wines and spirits, and where, from 1822, he set up home in rooms formerly occupied by the studio and gallery of the painter
Thomas Sully
Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was a portrait painter in the United States. Born in Great Britain, he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He painted in the style of Thomas Lawrence. His subjects included nation ...
, who, the following year, painted Vaughan’s portrait.
Vaughan was distinguished for his philanthropic activities, serving as President of the
Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind
The Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was established in 1832. Its present site, in the city's Overbrook neighborhood, was acquired in 1890. Along with the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, the Western Pennsylvania S ...
; President of the
Society of the Sons of St George; a Director of the
; Vice-president of the
Athenaeum of Philadelphia, a Trustee of the
Unitarian Society; and a Councillor of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...
. Furthermore, he was Secretary and Treasurer of the Philadelphia
Chamber of Commerce; a Director of the
Insurance Company of North America and of the Delaware Insurance Company of Philadelphia; and an Agent of the firm of
E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company. He was an active member of the
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, where he occasionally occupied the pulpit.
John Vaughan, who never married, died in his rooms in Philosophical Hall. The beneficiaries of his bequest included his friend
Jacob Snider, who had been brought up by Vaughan, as well as various learned and philanthropic societies. Vaughan’s fifty years of service to the American Philosophical Society were overshadowed by the discovery after his death that he had mingled the Society's funds with his own, though there was no suggestion that he was the gainer thereby, or the Society the loser.
[American Philosophical Society: ''John Vaughan Papers''.]
See also
*
Jane Aitken
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, John
1756 births
1841 deaths
British Unitarians
British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Merchants from London
American Unitarians
18th-century American businesspeople
19th-century American businesspeople
American librarians