Benjamin Chew Howard


Gender:
Male
Born:
November 5, 1791
Died:
March 6, 1872
Home Town:
Belvedere, MD
Marriage(s):
Jane Gilmor Howard (February 24, 1818)
Biographical Notes:
Benjamin Chew Howard was a descendant of Joshua Howard, a member of the army of James II who received a land grant in Baltimore County, Maryland in the 1680s. His parents were Colonel John Eager Howard, a Revolutionary war hero, Governor, Senator, and wealthy landowner in Baltimore, and his wife, Peggy Oswald Chew. In 1814, Howard became a Captain in the Mechanical Volunteers at the Battle of North point, and was greatly involved in the defense of Baltimore during the War of 1812. In 1835 he was appointed by President Jackson to settle a boundary dispute between Ohio and Michigan. As Reporter of the U.S. Supreme Court, he wrote twenty-four volumes of U.S. Supreme Court Reports from 1843-1862, and these volumes became known as the "Howard Reports." During this time, Howard declined two nominations, ...
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Education
Years at LLS:
1812
Other Education:
Graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1809, and went on to receive a Masters Degree in 1812.

Profession / Service
Profession:
Military; Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
Baltimore, MD in 1816
Political Party:
Jacksonian; Democrat
Federal Posts:
U.S. Representative (MD) 1829-1833
Reporter of the U.S. Supreme Court 1843
Federal Committees:
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1835-1836 and 1838-1838.
State Posts:
State Representative (MD) 1824
State Senator (MD) 1840
State Committees:
Member of the Committee that led to the establishment of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. MD Delegate to the Washington Peace Conference in 1861.
Local Posts:
City Council (Baltimore, MD) 1820

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:
Roger S. Baldwin 4 July 1813 List; Catalogue of Litchfield Law School (Hartford, Connecticut: Press of Tiffany, Case and Company, 1849), 10.

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