Thatcher Magoun (June 17, 1775 – April 16, 1856) was a shipbuilder who specialized in large ships and brigs, 250-tons and larger, built for the China trade. His reputation, according to the maritime historian Admiral

Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and tau ...

, was "second to none among American shipbuilders." He was also called the "Father of Shipbuilding on the Mystic River."

Career

In 1803, Magoun established the first

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...

on what is known today as Riverside Avenue, opposite the end of Park Street. The shipyard was called ''T. Magoun & Son.'' That same year, he laid the keel of his first vessel, the 188-ton ''Mt. Aetna'', the model of which he had made a few years before. He continued building ships at this location until 1836; eventually his yard was to be the only one in Medford with a

Shophouse A shophouse is a building type serving both as a residence and a commercial business. It is defined in the dictionary as a building type found in Southeast Asia that is "a shop opening on to the pavement and also used as the owner's residence ...

. The clipper ship ''Thatcher Magoun'' was launched in 1855. She was named in his honor. In 1851, B. F. Delano built two ships at the Magoun shipyard for W. W. Goddard, of Boston. Delano built the pilot boat ''William Starkey,'' a Boston schooner-rigged pilot boat built in 1854. The biggest ships built at the Thatcher Magoun shipyard at Medford were the 1,294-ton clipper ship ''Herald of the Morning'' and the 1,286-ton ''Kingfisher.'' Magoun amassed significant wealth by building 84 vessels over the course of his career. He specialized in big ships and

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

s, which were 250-tons and larger in size, built for

Old China Trade The Old China Trade () was the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. The Old China T ...

. According to the maritime historian Admiral

, Magoun's reputation was "second to none among American shipbuilders." He was also called "the Father of Shipbuilding on the

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts. In the Massachusett language, means "large estuary", alluding to the tidal ...

", and is buried in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery, located in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first rural or garden cemetery in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, and is a National Historic Landmark. Dedicated in ...

Thatcher Magoun House

Magoun built a mansion on High Street, Medford, Massachusetts which eventually became the town library.

Delano family

His daughter, Susan Bradshaw Magoun (1812–1885), married William Adams (1807–1880). They had a daughter, Susan Magoun Adams (1848–1904) who married Eugene Delano (1844–1920). They had a son

William Adams Delano William Adams Delano (January 21, 1874 – January 12, 1960) was an American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection wi ...

(1874–1960), who was a member of the prominent

Delano family In the United States, members of the Delano family include U.S. presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, and writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Its progenitor is Phili ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

References

WorldCat entry

Find-a-Grave entry
1775 births 1856 deaths {{shipbuilding-stub

Career

Thatcher Magoun House

Delano family

See also

References