Joseph Trumbull (December 7, 1782 – August 4, 1861) was a

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lawyer, banker, and politician from

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. He represented Connecticut in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

from 1834 to 1835, then again from 1839 to 1843. He later served as the 35th Governor of Connecticut from 1849 to 1850.

Early life

Joseph Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut on December 7, 1782. He graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1801, and studied law with his cousin William Trumbull Williams. In 1802 he moved to the Connecticut

Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms o ...

(now Trumbull County, Ohio) and was admitted to the bar. Shortly thereafter he moved back to Connecticut, establishing a law practice in

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

Career

In addition to a successful law practice, Trumbull was active in several businesses. From 1828 to 1839 he was president of the Hartford Bank, and he served as president of the Providence, Hartford & Fishkill Railroad. Originally a

national Republican The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Qu ...

, and later a Whig, Trumbull began his political career with election to the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

in 1832. He was sent to the U.S. Congress in December 1834 to complete the term of William W. Ellsworth who had resigned, and was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843). Trumbull served as

Governor of Connecticut The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Connecticut Military Department, military forces. The Governor (United States), governor has a duty to enforce state laws, ...

in 1849 and 1850. In 1849 he received the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

from Yale. In 1851 he served again in the Connecticut House of Representatives.

Death and burial

He died Hartford on August 4, 1861 as the result of typhoid fever. He was buried at Old North Cemetery in Hartford. Two days later, his second wife Eliza also died. Within a year of his death ten of his close relatives died, including his sister Abigail, his wife Eliza, his brother-in-law William L. Storrs, Joseph and Eliza's daughter Eliza, their son-in-law Lucius Robinson and Lucius' father David Robinson.

Family

Joseph Trumbull was born into an influential and politically active family. His grandfather, Jonathan Trumbull, was a colonial Connecticut governor and was the first governor of the State of Connecticut, serving a total of fourteen one year terms. His uncle, Jonathan Trumbull Jr. served as governor for ten terms. Another uncle, John Trumbull, served as a personal aide to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

during the Revolutionary War and became a famous painter. Several of his paintings are hanging in the

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in Washington, D.C. His aunt Mary Trumbull married William Williams, a political activist and signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

. His first wife, Harriet Champion, was the daughter of Henry Champion, a general in the Revolutionary War. His second wife was the sister of William L. Storrs, a U.S. Congressman and later the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. Joseph Trumbull was born to David Trumbull and his wife '' née'' Sarah Backus in Lebanon, Connecticut. He lived in the family home known as Redwood, on the Lebanon green. David and Sarah had five children. Joseph's siblings were: * Sarah Trumbull (1779–1839), who married William Trumbull Williams (1779–1839), her cousin * Abigail Trumbull (1781–1861), who married Peter Lanman (1771–1854) * John Trumbull (1784–1859), who married Anne Gibbons (1789–1823), Hanna Wallace Tunis (1800–1823) and Eliza Bruen (1793–1857) * Jonathan G. W. Trumbull (about 1790-1853), who married Jane Eliza Lathrop (1795–1843) Harriet died in 1823 and Joseph married Eliza Storrs (1784–1861), sister of William L. Storrs, on December 1 of the following year. With his second wife he was the father of a daughter, Eliza Storrs Trumbull (1826–1862).

References

External links

Trumbull’s Congressional biography
at
National Governors Association
' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trumbull, Joseph 1782 births 1861 deaths People from Lebanon, Connecticut Yale University alumni Connecticut lawyers Connecticut Whigs Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Governors of Connecticut National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives Burials in Connecticut 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers