Original Proprietors
Update III

     The August-September 1995 issue of NEXUS, the newsletter of the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, carried an announcement of the Redwood Library's project to locate descendants of the Original Proprietors. We have now established contact with descendants of 14 of the founders: Peter Bours, Jahleel Brenton, John Callender, John Channing, Ebenezer Gray, both senior and junior James Honyman, Jonathan Nichols, Abraham Redwood, Clarke Rodman, Samuel Rodman, Samuel Vernon, William Vernon, and Samuel Ward. The descendants have been found in a diversity of places ranging from New Hampshire to Florida, Arizona to Washington state, and as far away as Australia, France, England, and Switzerland. 

     The last issue of our newsletter included a list of prominent descendants of the Redwood Library's founders, among them George Champlin Mason, the architect who designed the 1875-76 addition to the Library. Other architects or engineers descended from, or married to descendants of the Original Proprietors include Lawrence Grant White, a Partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White; George Washington Goethals, builder of the Panama Canal; Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, the pioneers of the California bungalow style of architecture; and Guy Lowell, architect of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Some political figures of note descended from our founders were Theodore Francis Green, Senator from Rhode Island, after whom the Providence airport is named; Millicent Fenwick, Congresswoman from New Jersey, inspiration for the character Lacey Davenport in Garry Trudeau's comic strip "Doonesbury"; and William Somers Mailliard, Congressman from California. 

    Early connections between Redwood and two of our fellow membership libraries have come to light in the process of doing research for this project. David Olyphant, a Scottish-born physician, was a member of the Charleston Library Society, which was founded in 1748, one year after Redwood Library. After moving to Newport, Dr. Olyphant married Ann Vernon, daughter of Original Proprietor Samuel Vernon, and became a member of Redwood. 

     The other instance involves the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association, which was founded in 1846. One of the founders, and the first president, of that library was James E. Yeatman, whose wife, Cynthia Ann Pope, was a descendant of Original Proprietor Ebenezer Gray. One of the events planned for the 250th anniversary celebration in 1997 [since changed to 1998] is an exhibition of portraits of the Redwood Library's founders. Redwood owns portraits of Abraham Redwood, Henry Collins, and John Callender, and we have requested the loan of portraits of Simon Pease; David Chesebrough and his wife, Margaret Sylvester; the Reverend James Honyman; and John Channing and his wife, Mary Chaloner. If you know of portraits of any of the other founders or of their wives please contact Robert Behra at the Library. We would like to make this exhibition of portraits of the Redwood Library founders as complete as possible. 

Original 46 Founders 
Descendants of the Redwood 
Update III 
Update IV 
Update V 
Update VI 
Update VII