to Benjamin Franklin) and on the death of his father spent his entire eighty-thousand-dollar inheritance on a collection of fifty-two Old Master paintings, thereby forming one of the first important collections of such works in this country. They hung for many years at Vernon House (which still stands on the corner of Clarke and Mary Streets) and undoubtedly enticed other Newport residents to collect within the same parameters. At one time during the French Revolution, Vernon was recognized as a courtier by the mob, dragged to a lamp-post, and was only rescued from being hanged by a Frenchman who knew him and assured the mob that he was an American citizen. See also Vernon House Abraham Redwood Aaron Lopez References Thomas Vernon's 1776 Diary on Google Book Search 1719 births 1806 deaths Businesspeople from Newport, Rhode Island People of Rhode Island in the American Revolution American slave traders Patriots in the American Revolution Princeton University people People of colonial Rhode Island Burials at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery