Moulton, John
Dates
- Existence: 1762 - 1824
Biography
John Moulton was born in Wenham, Massachusetts, in 1762. Moulton was underage at the start of the Revolutionary War, but around 1776 he was permitted to join the Continental Army as a substitute for his father. After the war, he became a shipmaster, commanding voyages to the West Indies and European ports, and trading goods including lumber, tobacco, and rum for Beverly and Newburyport, Massachusetts, merchants. Moulton sometimes held a stake in the ship or its cargo. Two of the vessels he captained, the Nancy and the Reward, were separately captured by privateers in 1798 and 1806, respectively. Moulton owned a stake in the Nancy and her cargo, which were confiscated in Havana, Cuba, and he attempted to recover his losses until several years before his death.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
John Moulton business papers
Collection Identifier: Mss:766 1779-1835 M926John Moulton was a shipmaster from Wehnam, Massachusetts, who commanded voyages for merchants including Israel Thorndike and Moses Brown. The John Moulton business papers consist of correspondence, shipping records, and personal papers, dated from 1778 to 1823, and some papers of his son, Augustus Moulton (1809-1886), dated from 1832 to 1835.