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William Greene
Gender:
Male
Born:
January 1, 1797
Died:
March 24, 1883
Home Town:
Warwick, RI
Later Residences:
Cincinnati, OH
Warwick, RI
Warwick, RI
Marriage(s):
Abigail Beckett Greene (April 30, 1822)
Manchester Greene (November 17, 1867)
Abigail Lyman Greene (1817)
Manchester Greene (November 17, 1867)
Abigail Lyman Greene (1817)
Biographical Notes:
William Greene was the son of U.S. Senator (RI) Ray Greene and his wife Mary Magdalen Flagg. He was born in Warwick, RI in January of 1797. Greene graduated from Brown in 1817 and then attended the Litchfield Law School. Four years later he married his first wife, Abigail Beckett of Northampton. They had two daughters. Greene worked as a lawyer in Cincinnati, OH until the death of his first wife in 1862 after forty years of marriage to William. His second marriage was in 1867 to a Mrs. Manchester of East Greenwich, RI. Greene then returned to Rhode Island, where he served from 1866 to 1867 as the Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island. He died in Warwick, RI on March 24, 1883.
Quotes:
"Our coalition parties commenced last Friday week. They will be continued once a fortnight for three months. Their sociability contributes much to my enjoyment; and the exercise of dancing promotes my health."
Written to Abigail Lyman on December 29, 1818
Box I, #90 RG Coll Cincinnati Historical Society
"The Gentlemen will have a grand ball here on the 22nd in honour of Washington's birth."
Written to Abigail Lyman on February 16, 1819
Box I, #98
"The pleasure of Miss Lewis' company is requested at a Ball to be given at the house of Mr. Phelps, on Tuesday, the 24th int. at 1/2 past 6 o'clock P.M."
Hand-written invitation to Litchfield Law School ball, from George Boardman, George Devereaux, Joseph Clay Stiles, William Holt Averell, ...
[more]
Written to Abigail Lyman on December 29, 1818
Box I, #90 RG Coll Cincinnati Historical Society
"The Gentlemen will have a grand ball here on the 22nd in honour of Washington's birth."
Written to Abigail Lyman on February 16, 1819
Box I, #98
"The pleasure of Miss Lewis' company is requested at a Ball to be given at the house of Mr. Phelps, on Tuesday, the 24th int. at 1/2 past 6 o'clock P.M."
Hand-written invitation to Litchfield Law School ball, from George Boardman, George Devereaux, Joseph Clay Stiles, William Holt Averell, ...
[more]
Additional Notes:
When Litchfield Law School student James K. Livingston -- cousin to Henry and Walter Livingston -- became engaged to his future wife Charlotte Landon, Fanny Lord predicted that she would suffer the same fate as his cousins' jilted fiancées.
On June 18, 1820, Fanny Lord wrote to William Greene:
"The Livingstons seem to stand no chance of leaving with whole hearts for this is the third who has been engaged here in the last year."
#76 GR Papers
On July 13, 1820, William wrote to Abigail that Litchfield Law Student James Davis broke off his engagement to Litchfield Female Academy student Amelia Peck from New Haven.
#168 GR Papers
On June 18, 1820, Fanny Lord wrote to William Greene:
"The Livingstons seem to stand no chance of leaving with whole hearts for this is the third who has been engaged here in the last year."
#76 GR Papers
On July 13, 1820, William wrote to Abigail that Litchfield Law Student James Davis broke off his engagement to Litchfield Female Academy student Amelia Peck from New Haven.
#168 GR Papers
Education
Years at LLS:
1818
Other Education:
Graduated from Brown University in 1817.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
State Posts:
Lt. Governor (RI) 1866-1867
Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)
- Abigail Beckett Greene
Wife - Manchester Greene
Wife - Abigail Lyman Greene
Wife
LFA (1816-1817) - Mary Flagg Greene
Mother - Ray Greene
Father
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." Rare Book Collection, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University ; Ledger. "Journals of the Barr - Litch
Houghton, Josiah. "LLS Law Notebook 1817-1818." Litchfield Law School Collection, Series 1, Subseries 1, Litchfield Historical Society. Available online at https://archive.org/stream/35102011793091#page/n11/mode/2up.
Houghton, Josiah. "LLS Law Notebook 1817-1818." Litchfield Law School Collection, Series 1, Subseries 1, Litchfield Historical Society. Available online at https://archive.org/stream/35102011793091#page/n11/mode/2up.
Secondary Sources:
The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 8. New York: James T. White and Company, 1898.
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