Joseph Trumbull (December 7, 1782 – August 4, 1861) was a U.S. lawyer, banker, and politician from Connecticut. He represented Connecticut in the U.S. Congress from 1834 to 1835, then again from 1839 to 1843. He later served as the 35th governor of Connecticut from 1849 to 1850.
Joseph Trumbull | |
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| 35th Governor of Connecticut | |
| In office May 2, 1849 – May 4, 1850 | |
| Lieutenant | Thomas Backus |
| Preceded by | Clark Bissell |
| Succeeded by | Thomas H. Seymour |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 1st district | |
| In office March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843 | |
| Preceded by | Isaac Toucey |
| Succeeded by | Thomas H. Seymour |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's at-large district | |
| In office December 1, 1834 – March 3, 1835 | |
| Preceded by | William W. Ellsworth |
| Succeeded by | Elisha Haley |
| Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives | |
| In office 1832 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph Trumbull December 7, 1782 Lebanon, Connecticut |
| Died | August 4, 1861 (aged 78) Hartford, Connecticut |
| Resting place | Old North Cemetery in Hartford |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse(s) | Harriet Champion Eliza Storrs |
| Residence | Lebanon, Connecticut |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
Early life
editJoseph Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on December 7, 1782. He graduated from Yale University in 1801, and studied law with his cousin William Trumbull Williams.[1] In 1802 he moved to the Connecticut Western Reserve (now Trumbull County, Ohio) and was admitted to the bar. Shortly thereafter he moved back to Connecticut, establishing a law practice in Hartford.[2]
Career
editIn addition to a successful law practice, Trumbull was active in several businesses. From 1828 to 1839 he was president of the Hartford Bank, and he served as president of the Providence, Hartford & Fishkill Railroad.
Originally a national Republican, and later a Whig, Trumbull began his political career with election to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1832.
He was sent to the U.S. Congress in December 1834 to complete the term of William W. Ellsworth who had resigned, and was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843).[3]
Trumbull served as Governor of Connecticut in 1849 and 1850.
In 1849 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Yale. In 1851 he served again in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
Death and burial
editHe died Hartford on August 4, 1861, as the result of typhoid fever. He was buried at Old North Cemetery in Hartford.[4] Two days later, his second wife Eliza also died.
Within a year of his death ten of his close relatives died, including his sister Abigail, his wife Eliza, his brother-in-law William L. Storrs, Joseph and Eliza's daughter Eliza, their son-in-law Lucius Robinson and Lucius' father David Robinson.[5]
Family
editJoseph Trumbull was born into an influential and politically active family. His grandfather, Jonathan Trumbull, was a colonial Connecticut governor and was the first governor of the State of Connecticut, serving a total of fourteen one year terms. His uncle, Jonathan Trumbull Jr. served as governor for ten terms. Another uncle, John Trumbull, served as a personal aide to George Washington during the Revolutionary War and became a famous painter. Several of his paintings are hanging in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. His aunt Mary Trumbull married William Williams, a political activist and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
His first wife, Harriet Champion, was the daughter of Henry Champion, a general in the Revolutionary War. His second wife was the sister of William L. Storrs, a U.S. Congressman and later the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut.
Joseph Trumbull was born to David Trumbull and his wife née Sarah Backus in Lebanon, Connecticut. He lived in the family home known as Redwood, on the Lebanon green.
David and Sarah had five children. Joseph's siblings were:
- Sarah Trumbull (1779–1839), who married William Trumbull Williams (1779–1839), her cousin
- Abigail Trumbull (1781–1861), who married Peter Lanman (1771–1854)
- John Trumbull (1784–1859), who married Anne Gibbons (1789–1823), Hanna Wallace Tunis (1800–1823) and Eliza Bruen (1793–1857)
- Jonathan G. W. Trumbull (about 1790–1853), who married Jane Eliza Lathrop (1795–1843)
Harriet died in 1823 and Joseph married Eliza Storrs (1784–1861), sister of William L. Storrs, on December 1 of the following year. With his second wife he was the father of a daughter, Eliza Storrs Trumbull (1826–1862).
References
edit- ^ Norton, Frederick Calvin (1905). The Governors of Connecticut. Hartford: The Connecticut Magazine Company.
trumbull.
- ^ Franklin Bowditch Dexter (1911). Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History. Vol. V. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
- ^ "Congressional biography - TRUMBULL, Joseph, (1782 - 1861)". Retrieved 4 Oct 2011.
- ^ Thomas E. Spencer (1998). Where They're Buried: A directory Containing More Than Twenty Thousand Names of Notable Persons Buried in American Cemeteries. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. p. 406.
- ^ "Death of Mrs. Eliza Trumbull Robinson". The Hartford Courant. Hartford. 30 August 1862. p. 2.