Nathan B. Haswell Papers
Scope and Content Note
The Nathan B. Haswell Papers at UVM consist of one carton of manuscripts collected by Haswell while serving as U.S. Customs Inspector for the port of Burlington between 1806 and 1809. The collection includes ship cargo manifests, correspondence from such Lake Champlain Customs officials as Samuel Buell, Melancthon L. Woolsey, and Jabez Penniman, receipts and Customs accounts, loading and unloading records, and other Customs documents relating to trade on Lake Champlain. Many of the papers deal with attempts to stop smuggling with Canada and enforcement of Jefferson's Embargo. Of special interest are the papers from August and September of 1808 pertaining to the Black Snake smuggling case. The collection has been arranged chronologically. The Haswell Papers were originally pasted into one bound volume and shelved with the Large Bound Manuscripts under "Burlington Inspector of Customs".
Note: There are other Nathan Baldwin Haswell manuscripts in the libraries of the Vermont Historical Society and the Burlington Masonic Temple.
Dates
- 1805-1813
Creator
- Haswell, Nathan B. (Creator, Person)
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.
Biographical Note
Nathan Baldwin Haswell, the second son of noted Vermont printer Anthony Haswell, was born at Bennington, Vermont on January 20, 1786. After working in his father's printing office and studying law under John Robinson of Bennington, Nathan Haswell moved to Burlington in 1804 to attend the University of Vermont. A fire which destroyed his father's business prevented his entering UVM, however, and Haswell decided upon a business and mercantile career at Burlington instead. He became Inspector of Customs for the port of Burlington in 1806, serving in that position until 1809. He also held a number of public posts during his life, including Clerk of the Chittenden County Court in 1817-1818 and Burlington representative in the Vermont House in 1835-1836. A staunch Mason, Haswell almost single-handedly kept the Grand Lodge of Vermont alive during the anti-Masonic period of the 1830's and '40's, serving as Grand Master from 1829 to 1847, and as Grand Marshal of the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the United States from 1841 to 1853. Nathan B. Haswell died on June 6, 1855, while on a trip to Quincy, Illinois, at the age of sixty-nine.
Extent
1 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Collection contains correspondence, cargo manifests, receipts and customs accounts, loading and unloading records, records related to smuggling, and other materials that document Haswell's career as a Customs Inspector on Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT, in the early 19th century.
Location
Silver Special Collections, Billings Library.
- Title
- Guide to the Nathan B. Haswell Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Vermont Libraries, Special Collections Repository
Silver Special Collections Library
48 University Place, Room B201
Burlington Vermont 05405 U.S.A. US
(802) 656-2138
(802) 656-4038 (Fax)
uvmsc@uvm.edu
