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Isaac Trimble Preston
Gender:
Male
Born:
1793
Died:
July 4, 1852
Home Town:
Rockbridge County, VA
Later Residences:
LA
Marriage(s):
Catherine Layton Preston (November 20, 1828)
Margaret Layton Preston (1842 or 1843)
Margaret Layton Preston (1842 or 1843)
Biographical Notes:
Isaac Preston was the son of Francis Preston. The identity of his mother is not known and in a letter from his father to President James Madison, Francis Preston declares his son Isaac "to be the fruit of a youthful folly." Preston was the Valedictorian of his Yale class in 1812.
His studies at the Litchfield Law School were interrupted by the War of 1812. On March 31, 1813 he entered the army as a captain of the 35th Infantry. In June 1815, Preston was honorably discharged and he resumed his legal studies with William Wirt, in Norfolk, VA. He left Virginia later that same year and settled in Louisiana.
Preston had a great interest in developing better transportation throughout the south and was a promoter of a railroad from New Orleans, LA to Jackson, MS. Preston also pursued ...
[more]
His studies at the Litchfield Law School were interrupted by the War of 1812. On March 31, 1813 he entered the army as a captain of the 35th Infantry. In June 1815, Preston was honorably discharged and he resumed his legal studies with William Wirt, in Norfolk, VA. He left Virginia later that same year and settled in Louisiana.
Preston had a great interest in developing better transportation throughout the south and was a promoter of a railroad from New Orleans, LA to Jackson, MS. Preston also pursued ...
[more]
Education
Years at LLS:
1812
Other Education:
Attended Greenville College in Tennessee and graduated from Yale College in 1812.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Military; Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
New Orleans, LA in 1816
Training with Other Lawyers:
He studied with William Wirt in Norfolk, VA.
State Posts:
Attorney General (LA) 1824-1828, 1843-1846
State Representative (LA) 1825-1846
Judge of the Supreme Court (LA) 1850-1852
State Representative (LA) 1825-1846
Judge of the Supreme Court (LA) 1850-1852
State Committees:
Member of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1844.
Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)
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, 1812-1813. Rare Book Collection, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University.
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1812, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.
Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849), 10.
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1812, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.
Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849), 10.
Secondary Sources:
The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge, For the Year 1853. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853.
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