Henry Leavitt Ellsworth


Gender:
Male
Born:
November 10, 1791
Died:
December 28, 1858
Home Town:
Windsor, CT
Later Residences:
Windsor, CT
Hartford, CT
Lafayette, IN
Marriage(s):
Nancy Goodrich Ellsworth (June 2, 1813)
Marietta Barlett Ellsworth (1852)
Catharine Smith Ellsworth (1857)
Biographical Notes:
Henry Leavitt Ellsworth was the son of Chief Justice Oliver and Abigail (Wolcott) Ellsworth. He was also the twin brother of William Wolcott Ellsworth who attended the Litchfield Law School in 1811. Ellsworth was prepared for college by Nathan Johnson. After attending the Litchfield Law School, he married Nancy Allen Goodrich of New Haven, CT, the only daughter of Hon. Elizur Goodrich. They had two sons and one daughter.

Ellsworth and his wife first settled in Windsor, CT but after a few years moved to Hartford, CT where he began a successful and varied career. Ellsworth worked as a lawyer and also pursued agricultural interests. From 1819 to 1821 he acted as President of the Aetna Insurance Company and was also active in real estate. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson appointed ...
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Additional Notes:
His work, "A Tour to New Connecticut in 1811: the narrative of Henry Leavitt Ellsworth," was published in 1985.

Education
Years at LLS:
1811
Other Education:
Studied with Nathan Johnson in Windsor, CT in preparation for college and then graduated from Yale College in 1810.

Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Agriculture; Insurance; Real Estate; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
1812 in Litchfield County Court
Federal Posts:
Commissioner of Indian Settlement 1832-1835
Commissioner of Patents 1835-1845
Local Posts:
Mayor (Hartford, CT) 1835

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:
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 Univeristy.; Bond, William Key. "Lecture"

Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1812, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.
Secondary Sources:
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of College History, Vol. 6. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1912.

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