Truman Smith


Gender:
Male
Born:
November 27, 1791
Died:
May 3, 1884
Home Town:
Roxbury, CT
Later Residences:
Litchfield, CT
Stamford, CT
Marriage(s):
Maria Cook Smith (June 2, 1832)
Mary Ann Dickinson Smith (November 7, 1850)
Biographical Notes:
Truman Smith was the son of Phineas and Deborah Ann Judson Smith. Born November 27, 1791, Truman was raised on his father's farm in Roxbury, Connecticut and completed his preparation for college under the Rev. Daniel Parker. In 1815 he graduated from Yale College, and in 1817 entered into the Litchfield Law School to undertake legal studies. Upon his admission to the bar in 1818, he opened a law office in Litchfield which lasted until 1854. His first wife, Maria Cook was the daughter of Roger Cook of Litchfield, Connecticut. After she passed away, Smith married Mary Ann Dickinson, the adopted daughter of miniature painter Anson Dickinson. He had nine children between his two marriages.

After serving in the Connecticut State Legislature in 1831-1832 and 1834 Truman Smith was elected ...
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Education
Years at LLS:
1817
Other Education:
Completed his preparation for college with the Reverend Daniel Parker.
Graduated from Yale College in 1815.

Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
Litchfield, CT in 1818
Training with Other Lawyers:
He read in the office of Hon. Noah Benedict before attending the Litchfield Law School.
Political Party:
Whig
Federal Posts:
U.S. Representative (CT) 1839-1843, 1845-1849
U.S. Senator (CT) 1849-1854
Judge for the Court of Arbitration 1862-1870
Federal Committees:
Served as a Presidential Elector in 1844. Chairman of the Whig Committee during the Presidential campaign of Zachary Taylor in 1848.
State Posts:
State Representative (CT) 1831-1832, 1834

Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
Other:
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:
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.

Handwritten list by William Samuel Johnson, "Catalogue of the Students at Law in the school at Litchfield Conn. at & after Aug. 15th 1817..", Connecticut Historical Society, Johnson Family Papers, 1722-1863, Box - Johnson Papers.

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849), 14.
"The Smiths of Connecticut," Boston Courier, vol. XXVI, iss. 3509, 2, March 29, 1849.
Secondary Sources:
Cothren, William. History of Ancient Woodbury from the First Indian Deed in 1659 to 1879. Weedbury, CT: William Cothren, 1879.

Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of College History, Vol. 6. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1912.

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If you have family papers, objects, or any other details you would like to share, or if you would like to obtain a copy of an image for publication, please contact us at curator@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.