Alexander Hamilton Twombly (1804-1870)

From the late 1840s until the 1860s, he was in partnership with Edwin Lamson as Twombly & Lamson at 13 & 14 Custom House Street, Boston. From Liberia in Africa they imported "drugs and dye stuffs, palm oil, ivory, hides, gum copal, varnish gums, peppers, ebony, gold dust, and other kinds of African produce". In the days of the Gold Rush in 1849 they were the owners of the first line of clipper ships that ran between Boston and San Francisco via Cape Horn, carrying cargoes of general merchandise and supplies. For a long time he lived at 85 Boylston Street opposite the public gardens before moving to 198 Beacon Street where he died. In 1870, his widow moved to 304 Beacon. Their son married Florence, daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt.