Series I - Samuel and William Vernon, 1756-1799, 1756-1799, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Brothers Samuel and William Vernon were business partners involved in the triangular trade that sent rum from Rhode Island to Africa, bought slaves in Africa to sell in the West Indies or in the southern colonies, and brought molasses back to Rhode Island. See the Dictionary of American Biography entry on William Vernon for further information about his role in American politics and other business interests.
Subseries 1 - Correspondence, 1756-1796, 1756-1796, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Most of the letters in this series are addressed to the Vernons in Newport, Rhode Island, from the masters of their slave ships and from slave dealers in the West Indies, Virginia, South Carolina and Massachusetts. Some frequent correspondents were the firm of Adams and Griffin in Richmond, Va., Charles Bolton of Barbados, Samuel Brown of Boston, John Thornton and Charles Yates of Fredericksburg, Va., Capt. Caleb Godfrey, Capt. John Duncan, Capt. Thomas Rogers, and Capt. William Taylor. The letters of these and other men to the Vernons report shipboard incidents, progress of sales in the South and plans for return of ships to Newport. The series also contains letters from the Vernons to their business partners or the masters of their ships and frequently include instructions for the sale of slaves or cargo.
Letters received A #1-12, 14-39, 47, 1756-1772, inclusive
Letters received B #6-7, 10, 13-25, 28 and 1 unnumbered item, 1755-1795, inclusive
Letters received C #5, 7, 19 and 1 unnumbered item, 1752-1798, inclusive
Letters received D #9-10, 14-36, 1754-1771, inclusive
Letters received E #1-2, 1771-1772, inclusive
Letters received G #1, 3-15, 1754-1756, inclusive
Letters received H #5, 20, 1769, 1774
Letters received K #11-12, 1774, 1775
Letters received M #12-16, 1754-1755, inclusive
Letters received N-O-P #1, 12-16, 1751-1796, inclusive
Letters received R #3-5, 7-13, 16, 22-23 and 2 unnumbered items, 1764-1775, inclusive
Letters received S #26, 44, 56-57 and 1 unnumbered item, 1758-1799, inclusive
Letters received T #5-14, 16-26, 31, 1756-1774, inclusive
Letters sent and received V #34-50 and 14 unnumbered items, 1755-1793, inclusive
Letters received W, Y #19-20, 24, 28-30, 1756-1773, inclusive
Subseries 2 - Business Papers, 1756-1799, 1756-1799, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Arranged alphabetically by name of ship, then by format for those not attributed to a particular ship. This subseries contains crew lists, accounts of sales and purchases of slaves, invoices, bills of lading, records of wages to ship crews, ship expenses, accounts of sales of goods in Africa, cargo manifests and trade books of the Vernons' slave ships.
The voyages of the Othello are the most well-documented in the collection; papers relating to this ship include accounts, receipts, memoranda, copies of correspondence, trade books and account books. A 45-page trade book of Othello, 1764-5 is housed in Box 7, an oversize box. In folder 11, "Depositions and Memoranda re: Vernon vs. Rogers," are papers dated 1766 regarding the Vernons' legal action against Thomas Rogers, captain of the Othello, for disobeying their orders to sail directly to Georgia or South Carolina after leaving Barbados. Instead Rogers sailed to St. Christopher's where there was an insurrection, which resulted in the death of 11 slaves. The Vernons sought redress regarding the loss of revenue from unsold slaves.
The ship Royall Charlotte is represented by accounts, receipts, memoranda and a 16-page trade book. In addition to an account, there is one deposition, dated April 4, 1799, related to the ship Orange, which refers to damage to the ship when it hit a reef off the coast of the Bahamas during a return voyage. There are accounts and an 86-page trade book of the ship Venus housed in this subseries. This subseries also includes accounts for the ships Adventures, Ascension, Casada Gardin, Hare, Little Sally, Lydia, Marigold, Nancy, Pacific, and TittBitt.
A 24-page trade book of an unidentified vessel and a 20-page fragment of an account book for an unidentified vessel were placed in this series because they were originally kept with the other volumes specifically attributed to the ships of the Vernons and the format and handwriting match the others.
Folder 20 houses fragments of letters and accounts, and a clipping of a three-page article entitled, Account of a late Publication intitled 'The Origin of the Negroe Slave Trade,' By Matthias Christian Sprengel.