Benjamin Trumbull (19 December 1735 – 2 February 1820) was an early

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and preacher. Born in

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

Colony of Connecticut The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

, Trumbull graduated from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1759, and received his

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

education under Reverend Eleazer Wheelock, who delivered his ordination sermon in 1760, commending him to the people of North Haven as “not a sensual, sleepy, lazy, dumb dog, that could not bark back.” He continued in that charge for nearly sixty years, his preaching being interrupted only by the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, in which he served both as a volunteer and as

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

. After the war he published a

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

sustaining the claim of

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 cap ...

to the Susquehanna purchase, which influenced the decision of Congress in her favor. Yale gave him the degree of

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

in 1796. He published ''Twelve Discourses on the Divine Origin of the Holy Scriptures'' (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1790); ''A General History of the United States of America; from the Discovery, in 1492, to 1792, . . . .'' that was intended to be three volumes, but he lived only to complete the first, ''Vol. I: Exhibiting a General View of the Principal Events, from the Discovery of North America, to the Year 1765'' (New York: Williams & Whiting, 1810); and ''A Complete History of Connecticut, Civil and Ecclesiastical, from the Emigration of Its First Planters from England, in MDCXXX, to MDCCXIII'' (Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1797), later expanded in a second edition to ''A Complete History of Connecticut, Civil and Ecclesiastical, from the Emigration of Its First Planters from England, in 1630, to the Year 1764; and to the Close of the Indian Wars'' (New Haven, CT: Maltby, Goldsmith, & Co. and Samuel Wadsworth, 1818). The manuscript collections from which this history is compiled are in the Yale library. His grandson

Lyman Trumbull Lyman Trumbull (October 12, 1813 – June 25, 1896) was a lawyer, judge, and United States Senator from Illinois and the co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Born in Colchester, Connecticut, Trumbull esta ...

was a U.S. Senator from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Trumbull was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1814. AAS holds original copies of over 40 titles related to, or authored by Trumbull, as well as the manuscript of his ''General History of the United States''AAS catalog title authored by or related to Benjamin Trumbull
/ref> He died in North Haven, Connecticut.

References

External links

* Benjamin Trumbull papers (MS 505). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

* * ''A complete history of Connecticut: civil and ecclesiastical, from the emigration of its first planters, from England, in the year 1830, to the year 1764; and to the close of the Indian wars'' (2 vols.). New Haven. 1818
Volume One
an
Volume Two
at

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trumbull, Benjamin 1735 births 1820 deaths American military chaplains American Revolution chaplains People from Hebron, Connecticut Yale University alumni Members of the American Antiquarian Society People from North Haven, Connecticut 18th-century American historians 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Historians from Connecticut