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John Kingsbury (1761-1844)

Gender:
Male
Born:
December 30, 1761
Died:
August 26, 1844
Home Town:
Norwich, CT
Later Residences:
Litchfield, CT
Waterbury, CT
Marriage(s):
Marcia Bronson Kingsbury (November 6, 1794)
Biographical Notes:
John Kingsbury was the son of Deacon Nathaniel and Sarah (Hill) Kingsbury. He prepared for Yale by studying with his cousin the Rev. Charles Backus of Somers, CT. King entered Yale with the class of 1783, but left at the end of his freshman year and went on two privateering voyages from New London, CT with his eldest brother. After Kingsbury graduated from Yale in 1787, he taught briefly for one year and then studied at LLS in the Spring of 1788. After passing the bar, he practiced law in Waterbury, despite his poor health. Kingsbury was a large landowner with extensive properties. He and his wife had three sons and one daughter. Kingsbury died at the home of one of his son-in laws at the age of eighty-three.
Education
Years at LLS:
1788
Other Education:
Graduated from Yale College in 1787.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Educator; Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
Litchfield County, CT in 1790
State Posts:
State Representative (CT) 1796-1813
Local Posts:
Clerk for the Town of Waterbury (Waterbury, CT) 1793-1830
Justice of the Peace (Waterbury, CT) 1790-1813
Assistant Judge of the New Haven Court (New Haven, CT)
Judge in the County and Probate Courts (New Haven, CT) 1801
Assistant Judge of the New Haven Court (New Haven, CT) 1801-1820
Presiding Judge of the New Haven Court (New Haven, CT) 1820
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:
[We are currently working to update and confirm citations of attendance.]
Secondary Sources:
Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of College History, Vol. 4. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1907.
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