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Andrew Porter Wilson


Gender:
Male
Born:
June 13, 1806
Died:
February 28, 1871
Home Town:
Lurgan Township, PA
Later Residences:
Philadelphia, PA
Biographical Notes:
Andrew Porter Wilson graduated from the Jefferson College in 1823 and then attended the Litchfield Law School in 1825. After the Law School he returned to Pennsylvania and began a law practice.

Wilson made several attempts to enter the political realm, but each attempt met with failure. He lost as the Democratic candidate for the Pennsylvania state assembly in 1837 and 1840. In 1846, he was nominated to the U.S. Congress but lost to John Blanchard. He then moved to Philadelphia, PA.

Wilson never married and practiced law without a partner until nearly the end of his career when he took R. Bruce Petrikin, a former student as his partner. Wilson died at his mansion in Huntingdon, PA at the age of sixty-four. At the time of his death, he left an estate of between sixty and seventy thousand dollars.

Education
Years at LLS:
1825
Other Education:
Graduated from Jefferson College in 1823.

Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer
Admitted To Bar:
Litchfield, CT in April of 1826, Lancaster, PA in 1826, Franklin County, PA in 1829, Huntington County, PA in 1828, and Philadelphia, PA on March 5, 1850
Training with Other Lawyers:
He studied with George B. Porter for two years before entering the Law School at Litchfield.

Related Objects and Documents
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:
George C. Woodruff List.

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1848.
Secondary Sources:
Africa, J. Simpson. History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania. Louis H. Everts, 1883.

Martin, John Hill. Martin's Bench and Bar of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Rees Welsh and Co., Publishers, 1883.

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