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Edward Beecher

Gender:
Male
Born:
1803
Died:
1895
Home Town:
East Hampton, NY
Later Residences:
Litchfield, CT
Boston, MA
Galesburg, IL
Brooklyn, NY
Marriage(s):
Isabella Jones Beecher (October 27, 1829)
Biographical Notes:
Edward Beecher, son of Lyman and Roxana Beecher, was born on August 27, 1803 in East Hampton, New York. As a young boy his family relocated to Litchfield, Connecticut, and Edward likely received his early education at the Litchfield Female Academy in 1813. He graduated from Yale College in 1822 and later received his Doctor of Divinity degree from Marietta College in Ohio in 1841. In 1824 he returned to Boston and took the position of pastor at the Salem Street Church. On October 27, 1829, he married Isabella Jones, a former Litchfield Female Academy student, and together they had eleven children. After their marriage the couple moved to Jacksonville, Illinois where Edward served as the President of Illinois College from 1830-1844. In 1855 Edward took charge of the First Congregational Church ...
[more]
Additional Notes:
Lyman Beecher and Sarah Pierce struck an agreement to allow the Beecher children to attend the Litchfield Female Academy in exchange for Lyman's involvement with the school providing religious classes and sermons for the students. There is currently no primary source documentation placing Edward as a student. His older sister Catharine attended as did his younger siblings. It seems likely Edward also attended.

Edward Beecher was a close friend of Elijah P. Lovejoy and helped to organize Illinois' first anti-slavery society.
Education
Years at LFA:
1813
Other Education:
Yale (1822)
Profession / Service
Profession:
Religious Calling; Educator
Immediate Family (Why only immediate family?)
Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
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.]
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