Manuscript Group 50, Alfred Vail (1807-1859), Inventor Papers, 1826-1918

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Manuscript Group 50, Alfred Vail (1807-1859), Inventor Papers, 1826-1918, 1.5 linear feet / 3 boxes

Call Number: MG 50 + Box and folder number

Summary

• Biographical
  Note

• Provenance
  Note

• Scope
  and Content Note

• Series
  Descriptions

• Related
  Collections

• Box/Folder
  List

Summary:

Diary, 1826-1829, 1850-1858; nine essays
on religion and human behavior, ca. 1831-1836; correspondence; Vail family
genealogy; transcriptions of the Alfred Vail manuscripts in the Smithsonian
Institution; and Samuel F. B. Morse’s patent for the electric telegraph, 1848.
Vail worked with Samuel F. B. Morse from 1837 on development of the electric
telegraph at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey, which his
father, Stephen Vail, owned and operated.

Gift of Sarah Tempe Leddel Davis; William
Penn Vail, 1948; A.A. Marsters, 1922; and J. Cummings Vail, 1913.

Biographical Note:

Alfred Vail, a co-inventor of the telegraph, was born in Morristown, New
Jersey on September 25, 1807 to Bethiah Youngs (1778-1847) and Stephen Vail
(1780-1864).  After attending public schools, Alfred Vail became a machinist at
Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey, a lucrative iron company owned
by his father.  In 1832, however, he entered the University of the City of New
York (now New York University) as a theology student, and graduated in 1836.
On
September 2, 1837, while still at the university, he witnessed one of Professor
Samuel F. B. Morse’s (1791-1872) first telegraph experiments and became
strongly interested in the project.  By September 23, he had formed a partnership
with Morse which required him to construct a set of telegraph instruments at his
own cost and to secure their patents in the United States and abroad in return
for ¼ of the interest in the patents.

With his father’s financial backing, Vail went to work on the telegraph in
the machine shops of Speedwell Iron Works where he created the crucial dot-dash
mechanism and means of communication that became known as “Morse
Code.”  On January 6, 1838, the first successful experiment of the equipment
took place over three miles of wire running around the machine shops at
Speedwell.  The message read, “A patient waiter is no loser.”
Within
the next two months, successful demonstrations of the invention were held in New
York City, at Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and before Congress.  After the
latter, Morse and Vail gained another backer, Congressman Frances O. J. Smith,
leaving Vail’s share in the telegraph at ⅛ of the total interest.  It
wasn’t until 1843, however, that Congress appropriated money to build a line
between Baltimore and Washington D.C., and on May 24, 1844, a message reading,
“What Hath God Wrought!” was sent between Vail in one city and Morse
in the other.  For the next four years Vail continued working with Morse in
Philadelphia.  He retired in 1848 and moved with his family back to Morristown,
New Jersey where he spent the remaining ten years of his life researching Vail
family genealogy.

Alfred Vail married Jane Elizabeth Cummings (1817-1852) on July 23, 1839.
They had three sons together: Stephen (1840-1909), James Cummings (1843-1917),
and George Rochester (1852-1931). After Elizabeth Vail’s death, Alfred married
Amanda O. Eno.  Alfred Vail died on January 18, 1859, after which his son,
Stephen, donated the original 1838 telegraph his father had created to the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.  The Smithsonian also holds Alfred
Vail papers in its collections.

Sources:

Malone, Dumas, ed. Dictionary of American Biography (Charles Scribner’s
Sons: New York, 1936), Volume XIX, Troye-Wentworth.

Vail, William Penn. Genealogy of Some of the Vail Family Descended from
Thomas Vail at Salem, Massachusetts 1640 Together with Collateral Lines
(published 1937).

Provenance Note:

This collection was created from a number of different donations.
The sample
telegraphic alphabet was donated by Sarah Tempe Leddel Davis.  The majority of S.
Ward Righter’s research was donated by William Penn Vail of Blairstown, New
Jersey in May 1948 (accession M2807-M2809).  William Penn Vail received Righter’s
research papers in 1948 from Mary (Wilson) Vail, the widow of Cyrus Hamlin Vail,
who received them from Righter’s wife in 1945.  The second copy of Righter’s
transcription of Vail’s papers at the Smithsonian was donated by A. A. Marsters
in 1922 (accession M1735-M1736).  Finally, a number of printed pamphlets were
donated by J. Cummings Vail, Alfred Vail’s son, in June 1913.  A number of the
papers were originally placed in Manuscript Group 1, Alphabetical Series and
cataloged under the numbers D: 234-237. In 1956, these items were moved to
Manuscript Group 50.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of three boxes of diaries and theological essays of
Alfred Vail; research on Vail family genealogy and a typescript by S. W. Righter
representing selective transcripts of those Alfred Vail papers held in the
Smithsonian Institution; and a printed patent for the first electro-magnetic
telegraph issued to Samuel F. B. Morse.  The collection documents Vail’s life
before entering the City University of New York and the years subsequent to his
active participation in the telegraph business.  It also contains materials on
the controversy of the invention of the telegraph and the telegraphic code.
The
papers have been arranged into the following series: Literary Productions,
Research Papers, Correspondence, Printed Material, and Miscellaneous.

Series
Descriptions:

Series I. Literary Productions, 1826-1858.

This series consists of diaries covering the years 1826-1829 and 1850-1858,
as well as essays from 1831-1836.  The diaries document the everyday activities
of Mr. Vail, family relations, and major events in his life, although
unfortunately, there is not much information related to his relationship with
Morse or telegraphy.  Alfred Vail as he is presented in his diaries is a very
private and religious person.  Religion is especially prominent in his early
diaries which feature extended discussions of religious subjects and theological
problems. Daily entries for his later years deal almost exclusively with his
family life – the birth of his children, the death of his wife, and his poor
health.

The essays of Alfred Vail written during his years of theological studies
offer insight into 19th century theological discourse.

Series II. Research Papers, 1900-1913.

This series consists of genealogical research gathered by S. Ward Righter
from 1900-1913 from Alfred Vail’s own research.  The information was used for
Righter’s book Alfred Vail Records and also for William Penn Vail’s Genealogy
of Some of the Descendants of Thomas Vail (cited above under Biographical
Note Sources), both of which are held in The New Jersey Historical Society’s
collections.  The materials gathered support Righter’s belief that Vail
actually invented the telegraph.  Among this material are two copies of
transcriptions of Vail documents in the collections of the Smithsonian
Institution.

Series III. Correspondence, 1837-1912.

This series consists of letters of Alfred Vail and various individuals of the
Vail family pertaining mostly to the Morse-Vail controversy.  The majority of
items are copies, except for the letters of condolence upon the death of Alfred
Vail addressed to his wife.

Series IV. Printed Material, 1848-ca. 1912.

The printed materials include documents pertaining to the Vail family, as
well as publications on the Morse-Vail dispute over the invention of the
telegraph.  Morse’s patent for the telegraph is also among the documents of
this series.

Series V. Miscellaneous, n.d.

This series consists of two items: a sample of the first telegraphic
alphabet and a piece of stationary depicting Vail and Morse.  The alphabet sample was produced on the original machine at Speedwell by Alfred Vail for
Mrs. L. C. Dayton.

Related Collections:

Manuscript Group 1455, Stephen Ward Righter (ca.
1866-1942) Genealogy
Collection

Box/Folder List:

Processed by Irina Peris, April 2000 as part of the “Farm to City”
project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.

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