Historical note:

            Samuel Larned (1788-1846), diplomat and merchant of Providence, was the son of Samuel and a grandson of William Larned. He was born on June 22, 1788 and as a young man served as U.S. Consul and merchant at Cadiz, Spain. He returned to Rhode Island in 1820 and three years later was appointed by President James Monroe as the Secretary of Legation to Chile.

            He served in that capacity until 1828 when he was promoted by President John Quincy Adams to Charge d' Affaires at Peru and Bolivia. He negotiated treaties and enjoyed the friendship and trust of President Santa Cruz of the Confederate Republic of Peru and Bolivia. He was witness to frequent wars and revolutions, but retained the confidence of all sides and often settled conflicts between neighboring states while at the same time securing the personal and property rights of American citizens.

            He was recalled by President Martin Van Buren and after 23 years of foreign service, returned to domestic life. He married Katharine Celia Greene (1816-1887), daughter of Albert Collins Greene on October 1, 1837. They had one surviving child, Katharine Celia Larned (b. 1840).

            In the late 1830s, Samuel Larned hired noted architect Russell Warren to design a residence for him on Union Street in Providence. Samuel Larned died December 10, 1846 and is buried

at the Swan Point Cemetery. After Larned's death in 1846, his widow married her father's cousin, Judge Richard Ward Greene on November 12, 1851.

Bibliography:

Clarke, Louise Brownell. The Greenes of Rhode Island with Historical Records of English Ancestry. (New York, 1903). p. 509.

Costello, Michael J. "Finding Aid for Samuel Larned Papers." 1987.

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Scope and content:

            This collection contains correspondence and financial accounts from 1812-1848. There are several letters of note: an 1825 letter describing a customs official, Mr. Truxillo, in Chile as "unquestionably the greatest enemy to Americans that exist in South America...those that do business at the Custom House cringe to him bending double as if he were a deity - no honest honorable man can live with such a monster of arrogance and importance...his heart is as foreign to Republicanism as a royal Tigre is to a tame lamb."(box 1, folder 32); an 1827 letter mentioning Columbian troops movements and their intentions (box 1, folder 33); an 1835 letter from the State Department castigating Mr. Larned for negotiating a treaty with Bolivia when he had not been

authorized to - "although the President does not doubt your intentions, he deems it his duty to express his disapprobation of your conduct...you have been long desirous of returning to the Unites States and your stay has been protracted so much beyond...you will avail yourself of the earliest opportunity that may offer in the spring of setting upon your return." (box 1, folder 38); an 1835 letter castigating Mr. Larned for negotiating a treaty with Peru upon different conditions than he was authorized - "contrary to your instructions, you were upon the point of concluding a treaty with the Peruvian government upon the basis of that between the Unites States and Chile...you are authorized to negotiate upon the basis of the treaty with Colombia..." (box 1, folder 38); an undated rough draft of a treaty between the United States and Chile (box 1, folder 58); a statement showing the amount a Captain Henry Mathewson received from trading and smuggling (box 1, folder 3 and 5); and a catalogue of minerals and fossils belonging to Samuel Larned (box 1, folder 52)

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Provenance:

            These records are believed to have arrived as part of the "Albert C. and Richard W. Greene Collection." The actual date of the accession is not known for sure, but the collection was in hand by the late 1940s. Therefore, the date of 1948 was assigned to the collection.

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Processing note:

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Inventory:

Series 1: Loose Accounts

Box 1, folder 1: 1812-1815

Box 1, folder 2: 1823-1824

Box 1, folder 3: 1825

Box 1, folder 4: 1826

Box 1, folder 5: 1827

Box 1, folder 6: 1828

Box 1, folder 7: 1829

Box 1, folder 8: 1830

Box 1, folder 9: 1831

Box 1, folder 10: 1832

Box 1, folder 11: 1833

Box 1, folder 12: 1834

Box 1, folder 13: 1835

Box 1, folder 14: 1836

Box 1, folder 15: 1837

Box 1, folder 16: 1838

Box 1, folder 17: 1839

Box 1, folder 18: 1840

Box 1, folder 19: 1841

Box 1, folder 20: 1842

Box 1, folder 21: 1843

Box 1, folder 22: 1844

Box 1, folder 23: 1845

Box 1, folder 24: 1846

Box 1, folder 25: 1847

Box 1, folder 26: 1848

Box 1, folder 27: undated

Series 2: Correspondence - Letters received

Box 1, folder 28: 1817-1819

Box 1, folder 29: 1822

Box 1, folder 30: 1823

Box 1, folder 31: 1824

Box 1, folder 32: 1825

Box 1, folder 33: 1826-1827

Box 1, folder 34: 1828

Box 1, folder 35: 1829

Box 1, folder 36: 1832

Box 1, folder 37: 1833

Box 1, folder 38: 1835

Box 1, folder 39: 1836

Box 1, folder 40: 1837

Box 1, folder 41: 1838

Box 1, folder 42: 1839

Box 1, folder 43: 1840

Box 1, folder 44: 1841

Box 1, folder 45: 1842

Box 1, folder 46: 1843

Box 1, folder 47: 1844

Box 1, folder 48: 1845

Box 1, folder 49: 1846

Box 1, folder 50: 1847

Box 1, folder 51: 1848

Box 1, folder 52: undated

Box 1, folder 53: undated

Series 3: Correspondence - Letters written