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William Jones Spooner
Gender:
Male
Born:
April 15, 1794
Died:
October 17, 1824
Home Town:
Boston, MA
Biographical Notes:
William Jones Spooner was the son of Dr. William Spooner and Mary Phillips. Spooner attended the public Latin school in Boston run by William Bigelow and then entered Harvard College in 1809. He attended the Law School and completed his education in the office of Peter O. Thacher of Boston, MA. Afterwards he opened his own law office in this town. Spooner was considered very intelligent, well read, and well spoken. He was a member of several scientific and literary societies in Boston. He often contributed articles to the North American Review. He died of consumption in Boston, MA at the age of thirty.
Additional Notes:
His articles in the North American Review included "On the Bankrupt Laws" May 1818; "On Birkbeck's Letters from Illinois" March 1819; "On Phillips's Recollections of Curran" January 1820; "On Massachusetts State Papers" October 1820 and "On Goodwin on Malthus" October 1822.
Education
Years at LLS:
1813
Other Education:
Graduated from Harvard College in 1813 and obtained his Masters Degree from Harvard in 1816.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Journalist
Admitted To Bar:
1816 in Suffolk County, MA
Training with Other Lawyers:
Studied with Peter O. Thatcher of Boston, MA.
Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)
- Mary Phillips Spooner
Mother - William Spooner
Father
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:
Baldwin, Roger Sherman. Notes on law taken from the lectures of the Honble. Tapping Reeve and James Gould, esquire … at the Litchfield Law School, 1812-1813. Rare Book Collection, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University.
Secondary Sources:
Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. 1 Boston, MA: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846
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