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Heman Birch


Other Name:
Heman Burch
Gender:
Male
Born:
March 19, 1786
Died:
January 23, 1875
Home Town:
Newtown, CT
Later Residences:
Brookfield, CT
New York, NY
Elyria, OH
Milan, OH
Cleveland, OH
Marriage(s):
Lydia Harris Birch (1811)
Biographical Notes:
Heman Birch is known to have attended the Litchfield Law School in 1798 and then practiced law in Brookfield, Connecticut. In 1818, he served in the Connecticut House of Representatives. In 1830 he was elected president of the newly organized Brookfield Temperance Society. He served as a justice of the peace for the town of Brookfield in 1832. He then moved to New York City and later emigrated to Elyria, Ohio in 1834. He served in the Ohio state senate from 1839-1840, and was elected vice president of the Whig Central Committee, which was tasked with convening a convention to institute reform. He is listed as a retired lawyer residing in Milan, OH in 1852.
Additional Notes:
Heman Birch is buried in Woodland Cemetery, in Cleveland, OH. Section 7, Lot 76.

Education
Years at LLS:
1798

Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Political Party:
Whig
State Posts:
State Representative (CT) 1818
State Senator (OH) 1839-1840
Local Posts:
Justice of the Peace (Brookfield, CT)

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:
[We are currently working to update and confirm citations of attendance.]
Secondary Sources:
Hawley, Emily C. Historical sketch of the First Congregational Church of Brookfield, Connecticut, and of the town of Brookfield, 1907.

Halley, W.E. and John P. Maynard compilers Legislative Manual of the State of Ohio 1919-1920, F. J. Herr Printing Company, Columbus, OH, 1920.

The Connecticut Annual Register and United States Calendar for 1832. Published by Samuel Green, 1832.

"Legislature of Ohio," Ohio Statesman, December 27, 1839.

Livingston, John W. Livingston's Law Register for 1852, New York, 1852.

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