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Charles Bartlett Phelps


Other Name:
Charles B. Phelps
Gender:
Male
Born:
May 1788
Died:
December 21, 1858
Home Town:
Chatham, CT
Later Residences:
Woodbury, CT
Marriage(s):
Elsie Marshall Phelps (1809)
Amanda Parker Phelps (January 28, 1827)
Biographical Notes:
Charles Bartlett Phelps was born at Chatham, now Portland, Conn., on May 31st, 1788. He was the eldest son of Dr. Elisha Phelps, a physician. He entered the Litchfield Law School, when he was eighteen years of age. Due to poor health, he left Litchfield for Woodbury, where he entered his name as a student with Hon. Noah B. Benedict.

In 1809 he married Elsie, youngest daughter of the Rev. John Hutgers Marshall, first Rector of St. Paul's Church, Woodbury. They had six children. He later married Amanda, daughter of Dr. Joseph Parker, of South Farms, now Morris and had two additional children.

He was admitted to the bar in 1809 and served as Judge of Probate for the District comprising Woodbury, Bethlehem, Southbury, and Roxbury, from 1823 to 1834; and was re-appointed in ...
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Education
Years at LLS:
1806

Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
1809 in Litchfield County Court
Training with Other Lawyers:
He studied with Noah B. Benedict after attending the Litchfield Law School.
State Posts:
State Representative (CT) 1831, 1837, 1852
State Senator (CT) 1843
State Committees:
Speaker of the State House of Representatives in 1852.
Local Posts:
Judge of Probate (Woodbury, CT) 1823-1844
Postmaster (Woodbury, CT) 1831-1841
Judge of the County Court (Litchfield County, CT) 1840

Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
Other:
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:
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1806 & 1809, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany, and Company, 1849), 6.
Secondary Sources:
Cothren, William History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut from the First Indian Deed in 1659 to 1872 Volume II 1872 Accessed at https://ia601609.us.archive.org/30/items/historyofancient22coth/historyofancient22coth.pdf March 8, 2024

Kilbourne, Dwight C. The Bench and Bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut 1709-1909. Litchfield, CT: Published by the Author, 1909.

Loomis, Dwight and J. Gilbert Calhoun. The Judicial and Civil History of Connecticut. Boston: The Boston History Company, 1895.

Phelps, Oliver Seymour and Servin, Andrew Tinkey
The Phelps family of America and their English ancestors : with copies of wills, deeds, letters, and other interesting papers, coats of arms and valuable records,...
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