Jonathan Walter Edwards


Gender:
Male
Born:
January 5, 1772
Died:
April 3, 1831
Home Town:
New Haven, CT
Later Residences:
Hartford, CT
Marriage(s):
Elizabeth Tryon Edwards (November 29, 1797)
Biographical Notes:
Jonathan Walter Edwards was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. His parents were Rev. Dr. Jonathan and Mary (Porter) Edwards. Jonathan was their only son and eldest child. Edwards graduated from Yale and was distinguished for classical scholarship. After graduation, Edwards remained at Yale as a tutor for two years. He then attended the Litchfield Law School, and afterwards moved to Hartford, CT to practice law. He became very ill but continued to work as a lawyer. He married Elizabeth "Betsey" Tryon, the daughter of Captain Moses and Mercy Turner Tryon. They had six sons and four daughters.

Education
Years at LLS:
1794
Other Education:
Graduated from Yale College in 1789.

Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
State Posts:
State Representative (CT) 1809-1818

Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
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:
Handwritten list of names on loose papers titled "prior to 1798," inside Catalogue of Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849).
Secondary Sources:
Dexter, Franlkin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of College History, Vol. 4. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1907. ; Lewis, Hon. Dwight and J. Gilbert Calhoun. Judicial and Civil History of Connecticut. Boston, MA: The Boston History Company, Publishers, 1895.

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