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Joseph Thornton Adams


Gender:
Male
Born:
June 15, 1796
Died:
February 26, 1878
Home Town:
Roxbury, MA
Later Residences:
Boston, MA
New Bedford, MA
Washington, District of Columbia
Marriage(s):
Susan Jarvis Adams (August 30, 1830)
Biographical Notes:
Joseph Thornton Adams was born in 1796 to Joseph and Mary Fosdick Adams in Roxbury, MA. He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1820, and attended the Litchfield Law School the same year. He then received his master's degree from Harvard in 1823.

During his time at Harvard, Adams was reportedly punished for several offenses. He was suspended and sent to Rev. Mr. White at Dedham, Massachusetts for instruction for the firing of a pistol. He was later readmitted to Harvard and granted leave to teach school, but was then fined for a festive entertainment at Porter's Tavern.

After completing his studies, Adams served as an editor at the Boston Sentinel, a collector at the Port of New Bedford, Massachusetts and, for the last twenty years of his life, ...
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Education
Years at LLS:
1820
Other Education:
Received his Bachelors Degree from Harvard College in 1820 and his Masters Degree in 1823.

Profession / Service
Profession:
Editor
Admitted To Bar:
1820

help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849), 17.

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