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Bates Turner
Gender:
Male
Born:
1760
Died:
April 30, 1847
Home Town:
Canaan, CT
Later Residences:
Fairfield, VT
St. Albans, VT
Middlebury, VT
St. Albans, VT
Middlebury, VT
Marriage(s):
Persis Humphrey Turner (unknown)
Sarah Webb Turner (unknown)
Sarah Webb Turner (unknown)
Biographical Notes:
Bates Turner was born in 1760 in Canaan, CT. At the age of sixteen, he joined the Revolutionary army. After the war ended, he attended the Litchfield Law School. In 1796, he moved to Fairfield, VT and then to St. Albans, VT in 1798. He maintained a legal partnership with Asa Aldis for a few years and eventually moved back to Fairfield, VT.
Turner then established a small law school whose purpose was to prepare students for admission to the bar, and sought to do so in less time that was normally required for preparatory studies. He had nearly 175 students, more than any other legal office in the state. Due to large debts Turner assumed in a failed attempt at expansion, the school closed in 1812.
In 1812, he moved to Middlebury and attempted to set up a law school connected ...
[more]
Turner then established a small law school whose purpose was to prepare students for admission to the bar, and sought to do so in less time that was normally required for preparatory studies. He had nearly 175 students, more than any other legal office in the state. Due to large debts Turner assumed in a failed attempt at expansion, the school closed in 1812.
In 1812, he moved to Middlebury and attempted to set up a law school connected ...
[more]
Education
Years at LLS:
1780
Profession / Service
Profession:
Military; Lawyer; Educator; Political Office
State Posts:
Judge of the Supreme Court (VT) 1827, 1829
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:
[We are currently working to update and confirm citations of attendance.]
Secondary Sources:
Hemenway, Abby Maria. Vermont Historical Gazatteer, Vol. II, Part I. Burlington, VT: Published by The Author, 1871.
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