Travels in Britain, 1794-95: The Diary of John Aspinwall, Great-Grandfather of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, With a Brief History of His Aspinwall Forebears [Hardcover]

John Aspinwall (Author), Aileen Sutherland Collins (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 1994

After being "lost" for two hundred years, the travel diary of John Aspinwall has been discovered and is published in this volume. On his voyage to England in 1794, Aspinwall and fellow passenger John Jacob Astor endured wild seas and a threat of capture by a French warship. In London, Aspinwall dined with Chief Justice John Jay and his coterie, attended major productions of opera and the theatre; he traveled by stagecoach across southern England and through the Midlands, and sailed north to Scotland. He was intently interested in the wondrously high bridges, the canal system, and new manufacturing processes but was apparently not troubled by the sight of child labor. And he was both fascinated and annoyed by the deference given the nobility and royalty--recording in his diary each glimpse of George III and his family. Back in New York City, for the fifty years of his adulthood, John Aspinwall earned his living in trade and finance. But he was also concerned with civic needs such as the establishment of public schools and the provision of smallpox inoculations for the poor. In addition to serving on the boards of the New York Hospital, the Humane Society, and the Magdalen Society, he was a founder of the American Bible Society in 1816. Equally as valuable as the publication of the 18th-century diary is this first study of the Aspinwalls, a distinguished branch of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's family tree that has been virtually ignored by biographers and historians. The work details the role of various Aspinwalls in the social and political arena over 300 years of American history--from Pilgrims and privateers in the colonial era, merchant princes in the 19th century, to FDR in the 20th. And through the accurate genealogical charts that are included, links can be traced between the Aspinwalls and America's finest families.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Aileen Sutherland Collins is to be congratulated on her skilful editing and presentation of this valuable find, an absorbing hitherto unpublished diary which throws a brief and vivid light upon the Britain of King George III in the years of the Napoleonic Wars. The young American author describes with appealing fascination all that interests him in his travels, from journeys in cramped coaches to the audiences in rowdy opera houses, from cathedrals to cloth markets, and from the activities of recruiting sergeants to those of barefoot Highland women reaping wheat in the fields outside Edinburgh. The many illustrations and detailed notes add colour and a useful glossary to the text of the diary. --Christopher Hibbert, British social historian (back cover blurb)

Even if John Aspinwall had not been FDR's ancestor, this journal would be well worth publishing. Young Aspinwall is a wonderfully representative American of his time, fiercely proud of his brand-new country, and, by turns, admiring and appalled at what he discovers in the Old. --Geoffrey C. Ward, Roosevelt historian (back cover blurb)

Aileen Sutherland Collins performs a very valuable service in bringing this diary to light. The illustrations, annotations, and genealogical data with which she supplements the finely edited text provide us with a veritable feast of information. Thanks to her, we know much more about the Aspinwalls and their connections, as well as the legacy to which Franklin Delano Roosevelt was heir. --Richard A. Rutyna, Associate Professor Emeritus of History (Foreword)

About the Author

Aileen Sutherland Collins is a free-lance writer and editor with a degree in history. Her research on the Roosevelts and related families has spanned three decades. She is a member of three honor societies: Alpha Chi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Alpha Theta (Field of History).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Parsons Press; 1st edition (November 21, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963848763
• ISBN-13: 978-0963848765
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,209,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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