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Roberts Vaux | |
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| Born | January 25, 1786  Philadelphia |
| Died | January 7, 1836 (aged 49) Philadelphia |
| Occupation | Jurist |
Roberts Vaux (January 25, 1786 – January 7, 1836) was an American lawyer, jurist, abolitionist, and philanthropist.
He was born inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, the eldest son of a well-knownQuaker family (Richard and Anne Roberts Vaux) and connected by marriage to another such family, the Wistars. He received his education at private schools of Philadelphia.
Vaux was admitted to the bar in 1808, and rose rapidly to prominence in his profession, although he only became judge of the court of common pleas of Philadelphia about a year before his death. Embodying the Quaker values of morality and public service, Vaux helped found Pennsylvania's public-school system (and for fourteen years held the first presidency of the board of public schools of Philadelphia), and at one time was a member of more than fifty philanthropic societies.[1]
Vaux became noted for his interest in abolition, as well asNative American issues. He helped found thePennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, the School for the Blind, thePhiladelphia Savings Fund Society, theHistorical Society of Pennsylvania, and other benevolent societies of the city and state. Vaux also had a part in the creation of the Frankford Asylum for the Insane (now known asFriends Hospital). He was a member of scientific societies in Europe, and of theAmerican Philosophical Society (elected in 1819).[2] He was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1834.[3]
Early in life, Vaux became interested in prison matters, as an extension of his education concerns. He acquired perhaps his greatest distinction as a penologist. He served as Secretary and Commissioner of the Philadelphia Prison Society. He was one of the commissioners to adapt the law of Pennsylvania to the separate system of imprisonment, and also to build theEastern State Penitentiary, and labored zealously in the cause of prison reform. He was among thoseAlexis de Tocqueville dedicated his book on prison reform after his travels across the United States including Philadelphia.
Vaux refused several public posts offered by PresidentAndrew Jackson, among which was the mission to St. Petersburg. He publishedEulogium on Benjamin Ridgway Smith (Philadelphia, 1809);Memoirs of the Lives of Benjamin Lay and Ralph Sandiford (1815);Memoirs of the Life ofAnthony Benezet (1817; with alterations, York, 1817; French translation, Paris, 1821); andNotices of the Original and Successive Efforts to improve the Discipline of the Prison at Philadelphia (1826).
Vaux married Margaret Wistar in 1814. They had two sons, Richard and Thomas, who survived their parents and are buried atLaurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.Richard Vaux (1816–95) becamemayor of Philadelphia and a member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania.
Vaux died inPhiladelphia on January 7, 1836, at age 49, ofscarlet fever. He was buried at theArch Street Friends Meeting House burial ground.
Vaux is the namesake of theRoberts Vaux Junior High School in Philadelphia, built during theGreat Depression as a high school and later converted to a junior high school and private academy. It was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1988[4] and closed in June 2013[5]
