Background
William Vernon was born in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the youngest of the eight children of Samuel Vernon and Elizabeth (Fleet) Vernon.
William Vernon was born in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the youngest of the eight children of Samuel Vernon and Elizabeth (Fleet) Vernon.
In partnership with his brother Samuel, Vernon was active in trading along all three sides of the old Newport commercial triangle rum to Africa, slaves to the West Indies, and molasses back to Newport. The firm's letter books throw considerable light on this trade. In 1756, for instance, William and the Redwoods, accepted a note from two Guinea Coast traders for 4, 353 gallons of rum, payable in good slaves at the rate of 115 gallons each for man slaves and ninety-five gallons for women. The firm also engaged in privateering, and in King George's War owned the very successful Duke of Marlborough as well as having an interest in others.
William owned a splendid mansion that became British and French headquarters during the Revolution, and in 1774 had five Negroes in his household. The Vernon family divided during the Revolution, Thomas becoming one of the most active of the many Newport Loyalists while William and his other brothers were active on the side of the patriots. In 1773, the Assembly had named William and two others to petition the king about the cod fisheries; in 1774 he was one of the local Committee of Correspondence; and in 1775, he was one of a committee appointed to collect facts concerning British depredations, his own brig, the Royal Charlotte, having been seized by Capt. James Wallace of H. M. S. Rose and condemned in Boston.
By 1776, the British occupation caused Vernon to leave Newport for the remainder of the war. On April 19, 1777, the Continental Congress appointed James Warren, of Plymouth, John Deshon, of New London, and Vernon to serve as the "Navy Board of the Eastern Department" or "Eastern Navy Board. "This group, which sat at Boston with Vernon as chairman, was authorized "to have the Superintendence of all Naval and Marine Affairs of the United States of America within the four Eastern States under the direction of the Marine Committee , " later under the Board of Admiralty.
They were to have charge of the building, manning, and fitting for sea of all naval vessels, providing the necessary materials and stores, to keep registers of personnel, and order courts martial. A similar group for the "Middle Department" sat at Philadelphia. Vernon did invaluable work for the infant American navy in this capacity, and his correspondence reveals the extreme difficulties common to all those who were involved with money and supplies for the American cause.
He advanced large sums from his own fortune for the purpose and wrote in 1778 that although the enemy had at least £12, 000 sterling of his property in addition to his Newport real estate, it "never broke my rest a moment”. Returning to Newport after the Revolution, he resumed his local importance.
Vernon was a wide reader, spoke several languages, and corresponded with many of the notable men of his day. Always public-spirited, he was an incorporator and second president of the Redwood Library, an overseer of the poor, and a benefactor of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University.
Vernon was married to Judith, the daughter of Philip Harwood. She bore him three sons.