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Northampton historians of the early twentieth century remembered Benjamin Tappan as a successful merchant whose portrait was painted by Gilbert Stuart, but they omitted any mention of his silversmithing activities. In fact, Tappan probably began to sell dry goods soon after 1768, the year he arrived in Northampton, and gradually abandoned his silversmithing trade as his business expanded. This spoon’s history of ownership among Tappan descendants demonstrates their knowledge and pride in his work as a craftsman whose accomplishments might otherwise have been forgotten.
This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.
1Daniel Langdon Tappan, Tappan-Toppan Genealogy, Ancestors & Descendants of Abraham Toppan of Newbury, Massachusetts 1606-1672 (Arlington, Ma.: privately printed, 1915), pp. 24-5, 40-42.
2Algernon Akin Aspinwall, comp., The Aspinwall Genealogy: Peter Aspinwall & Descendants, Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle & Co. Press, 1901), pp. 53, 76, 82-3, 124.
3Edward Augustus Bowen, Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Ct., (Cambridge, Ma.: Riverside Press, 1897), pp. 154, 157; Sidney Perley, The Plumer Genealogy - Francis Plumer, who settled at Newbury, Massachusetts, and some of His Descendants (Salem, Ma.: The Essex Institute, 1917), pp. 199-200; Richard N. Gookins, comp. A History and Genealogy of the Gookin Family of England, Ireland and America (Salem, Oregon: typescript, 1983) [NEHGS library], pp. 372.
4Hon. Daniel Appleton White, The Descendants of William White of Haverhill, Massachusetts, Genealogical Notices (Boston: J. Wilson and Son, 1863), pp. 34, 44-6; correspondence, departmental files; twentieth-century birth and death records, Massachusetts Department of Vital Records.
