Gaspee
Virtual Archives
Research Notes
on Daniel Vaughan
The Gaspee Days Committee at www.gaspee.COM
is a civic-minded nonprofit organization that runs a list of many
varied
community events in Rhode Island, including the famous Gaspee Days
Parade
each June. These events are all designed to commemorate the
burning
of the hated British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee , by Rhode
Island
patriots in 1772 as a proximate cause of the American Revolution. Our
historical
research center, the Gaspee Virtual Archives at www.gaspee.ORG
, has presented these research notes as an attempt to gather further
information
on one who has been suspected of being associated with the the burning
of the Gaspee. Please e-mail your comments or further questions
to webmaster@gaspee.org.
This web page presents research notes on Daniel Vaughan
only.
None of the information is considered authoritative at the present
time.
Evidence implicating Daniel Vaughan:
Well, of course, there is no information whatsoever implicating Daniel
Vaughan in the burning of the Gaspee
in 1772. He was apparently serving on a Rhode Island based cargo
sloop shortly after the attack, and came to be involved in the
subsequent investigation based on his testimony about what he saw of
the treatment of the indentured servant Aaron Briggs aboard the Beaver. Excerpted from Staples' Documentary
History of the Destruction of the Gaspee. p 79:
I, Daniel Vaughan, of Newport,
in the colony of Rhode Island, being of
lawful age, do depose and say: That sometime in the summer last past,
being
in a sloop taking out some old iron from the wreck of the Gaspee, and
afterwards
going down to Newport in said sloop in company with Capt. Linzee, in
his
Majesty's ship the Beaver, one morning, not far from the island of
Prudence,
I saw a small boat alongside the Beaver, and immediately told the
people
on board the sloop, that somebody had gone on board the Beaver that
night;
A few days afterwards, as the Beaver lay at Newport, near the fort, I
was
ordered to haul the sloop I was in alongside a schooner, which then lay
alongside the Beaver, in order to take out some sugar; and going on
board
the Beaver, I saw a mulatto fellow under the forecastle in irons. I
said
unto him, "so you are one of the rogues that have been burning the
Gaspee;"
he replied, "he never saw her, nor knew anything about her;'' I then
asked
him what he came there for; he answered, ' 'his master had used him
badly,
and he was determined to leave him." Two or three days afterwards,
being
on board said schooner, I heard Capt. Linzee order said mulatto to be
carried
out of the Beaver on board said schooner, and then to be tied up to the
mast and whipped; and after he was laid hold on, and they were about to
tie him up to the mast, he began to declare he knew some of the people
that burnt the Gaspee, and that Simeon Potter, John Brown and others,
(whose
names I have forgot,) were concerned therein. Upon this confession, he
was released from a whipping, sent on board the Beaver, where I
afterwards
saw him in irons on the quarter deck.
DANIEL VAUGHAN.
PROVIDENCE, sc.
PROVIDENCE, Jan.
16th, 1773.
Daniel Vaughan appeared in
person and made solemn oath to the truth of
the foregoing declaration, unto which he has subscribed, before
DARIUS SESSIONS.
Deputy Governor.
__________
PROVIDENCE, Jan.
18, 1773.
SIR:—In consequence of an
application made unto me in writing, signed
by
Barzillai Richmond, Joseph Brown and John Brown, I summoned Daniel
Vaughan
and took his deposition relative to what he knew respecting the
treatment
of the mulatto Aaron on board the Beaver, and I herewith inclose it to
your honor.
I had not done it but our river is
fast shut up, and it is very
uncertain
when Mr. Vaughan will reach Newport. I choose Mr. Vaughan should give
his
deposition before the commissioners, if he arrives in season for that
purpose;
but if he doth not, and you think proper to make use of what I now
send,
you have liberty to improve it in any way you think it may promote
truth
and justice.
I am, sir, your humble
servant,
DARIUS SESSIONS.
Gov. WANTON.
In summarizing the effect of the above, Robinson states in Revolutionary
Fire that:
Aaron
Briggs
appeared and gave his testimony. Previously refuted by the Tompkins
family
and their servants, further doubt was now cast upon it in a deposition
given to Governor Wanton by Daniel Vaughan. Vaughan was a witness to
the
fact that Aaron claimed knowledge of the Gaspee burning only
after
being whipped by Captain Linzee.
Thus, Daniel Vaughan was the pre-eminent witness to discredit the
testimony of Aaron Briggs. It is very much of interest that
Vaughan was discovered, perhaps recruited, as a material witness by
none other than Dep. Gov. Darius Sessions,
who led a deliberate effort to deceive and obstifrucate the Commission
of Inquiry. We also note that while Daniel Vaughan lived in Newport,
his business on the
sloop probably often brought him up Narragansett Bay to Providence,
where he most probably was well acquainted with many of those that took
part in the attack on the Gaspee.
It was also likely, then, that
Darius Sessions recruited his testimony while he was in Providence.
We first run into the name of Daniel Vaughan as testifying in a
maritime case related to his service as a Lieutenant aboard the Prince Charles of Lorraine,
commanded by Simeon Potter c1746-1748. He
testified that Simeon Potter took seven Indians and three negroes from
the Jesuit missionery, and intimidated over 20 crewmen to leave the
ship before collected their share of the profits from privateering,
which Potter then pocketed. [Howe, M. A. De Wolfe Bristol,
Rhode Island : T own Biography (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1930)]
It is also very interesting that we next run across the name
of Daniel Vaughan to be
associated with an important insurrection in Newport. From the website of the
Artillery Company of Newport:
With the conclusion of the War in
1763, Britain began enforcing
restrictions on trade and levying direct taxes on the Colonies. These
were intended to pay for the cost of defending the Colonies, but
nevertheless these actions were unpopular and were resisted.
In 1764 crewmembers from HMS St.
John got into trouble in Newport
after they had stolen some chickens and hogs from the townsfolk.
Others, while trying to apprehend a deserter, were assaulted by
citizens of Newport. The ship attempted to sail, but two members of the
Governor's Council ordered the Company to fire the guns at Fort George
in an attempt to stop its departure. A gun under the command of Daniel
Vaughan fired eight shots damaging the main sail. When asked why
he did
not sink the St. John, Vaughan replied that his orders did not allow
him to do such an act, but that he could only fire to disable.
We note that one of the Gaspee Commissioners, Frederick Smythe,
attempted in vain to broaden the scope of the inquiry to included this
shelling of the customs sloop St.
John, but was turned back by Governor Wanton saying that the
gunner of the fort "was in town and could fully explain the affair."
(see Staples, p96). Perhaps, had he
been subpoenaed to appear before the Commission, they would have
recognized that Vaughan's previous testimony regarding Briggs would be
more suspect, coming as it were from one who had previously fired on
one of His Majesty's ships.
Daniel Vaughan's name, however, reappears in a very curious place at
the start of the Revolution. From: Congress and the Continental
Navy, 1775-1783: Chronology and Documents at: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/revwar/chron.htm
22 December 1775 The Marine Committee
appointed
the following officers, with the approval of Congress:
Commander-in-Chief: Esek Hopkins
Captains: Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham
Whipple, Nicholas Biddle, John B.
Hopkins
First Lieutenants: John Paul Jones, Rhodes
Arnold,
Eli Stansbury, Hoysted Hacker, Jonathan Pitcher
Second Lieutenants: Benjamin Seabury, Joseph
Olney,
Elisha Warner, Thomas Weaver, James McDougall
Third Lieutenants: John Fanning, Ezekiel
Burroughs, Daniel Vaughan
Thus, we see that the chief counterwitness to the potentially damaging
testimony of Aaron Briggs had previous personal experience in attacking
the British, and went on to distinguished service in the American cause
during the Revolution, in the company of such notables as John Paul
Jones. Was this definitely the same Daniel Vaughan? Probably. We
know that all three instances were in Rhode Island, in the same decade,
involved in maritime pursuits, and seemed to be playing on the same
side.
Genealogical Information:
We're not quite sure where to turn in this case. The following
candidates are extracted from LDS, Ancestry.com, and Google searches on
Daniel Vaughan. We know he considered himself to be from Newport, but
that doesn't tell us if he was born there.
- We do note that a Daniel
Vaughan (1704-1787) <http://monica.odi.ca/t9.html> (link broken
as of 2005) was born in Newport, RI, married a Martha
Throop from Bristol, RI, but they shortly moved to Lebanon, CT by 1726
to raise their kids. One child of this couple was a Daniel
Vaughan born in 1748 in Lebanon, CT
- And a Daniel Vaughan (1712-1812: if you believe that he lived to
be
100) married on 08/12/1735 to Sarah Cushman. She was born on
11/08/1717. They both were born in Middleboro, Mass
- There was a Daniel Vaughan born in Newport in 1716 of Daniel
Vaughan and Abigail Moon, and who married in Newport in 1744.
- We also note a Daniel
Vaughan born 14Apr1722
in East Greenwich, RI, who died in 1803. He was the son of Robert
Vaughan (NOT the Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and Johannah Sweet, and he may
have
married a Mary/Marcy Bailey in 1742.
- There was a Daniel Vaughan born in 1731 in North Kingstown, RI to
an
Isaac Vaughan and Mary Cornell. He married Sarah Harris
c1765 and
died in 1806.
- As well as a Daniel Vaughan b1735 in Newport married a Hannah
Gorton in Westerly, RI in 1773.
- Daniel Vaughan b1743 in East Greenwich or Newport, RI married a
Sarah Sabins of Newport
in 1769. His parents were Samuel Vaughan and Anna Bailey.
He died in 1800.
- We also have from the Descendants
of John Vaughan website:
Daniel Vaughan, born
February 21, 1747 in Scituate,
Providence, RI/Colony.; died Unknown (after 1808). He
was the son of David Vaughan and Dinah Baker. He
married 1. Lydia Mosher (Mosier) Abt.
February 21, 1768 in NY; and 2. Lydia Harrington, died Unknown in Nova
Scotia.
We cast doubt on this latter one being our guy, as Tories were known to
have resettled in Nova Scotia. We also received an e-mail in May 2005
from Bill Tufts of
Ontario who related that this Daniel Vaughan moved with his parents to
Duchess County, NY c1761, then to Nova Scotia c1766. We also
received e-mail from a John
Bartram who tells tales that this particular Daniel Vaughan may
have been involved in gold divining scams in the Oak Island area of
Nova Scotia at the close of the 18th century (See http://oakisland.esolutionswork.com/tiki-index.php?page=Daniel%20Vaughan).
- There was a Daniel Vaughan born c1748-1752 in Newport, RI who
married a Hannah Gorton in 1773. Hannah's father owned land in Warwick.
- Finally, there was a Daniel Vaughan b1748 in Newport of Daniel
Vaughan and Freelove Gorton, married a Elizabeth Potter of Newport in 1772, and died
in 1779. This may be the same Daniel Vaughan as listed
immediately above. This guy is probably our favorite candidate as loose
evidence would indicate that he was of age and location to have been in
command of the battery in Newport in 1764, could likely have had family
connections with known Gaspee raider, Simeon
Potter, likely was involved in maritime pursuits, and may even have
died in service during the American revolution. We also see his
estate notice published in December 1779 noting he was from Newport but
listing a Francis Anderson as Administrator in Warwick, RI.
That's all the evidence we have for now folks. If you
know more, please e-mail us at webmaster@gaspee.org.
Thanks!
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Originally
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to Gaspee Virtual Archives 10/2004 Last Revised
06/2006 DanielVaughan.html