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Robert Cunningham

Gender:
Male
Born:
October 18, 1786
Died:
July 7, 1859
Home Town:
SC
Later Residences:
Charleston, SC
Abbeyville, SC
Rosemont, SC
Marriage(s):
Louisa Bird Cunningham (1814)
Biographical Notes:
Robert Cunningham was born on his father's plantation on the Saluda River in South Carolina. He received his primary schooling in Charleston and was further prepared for college by Dr. Abner Pyles in Laurens District and the Mt. Bethel Academy. After graduating from Washington College in Lexington, VA, he red law with Langdon Cheves in Charlestown, SC and John C. Calhoun in Abbeyville, SC. After attending the Litchfield Law School, he was admitted to the bar in Columbia, SC. During the War of 1812, he was appointed a Captain of the Infantry. He resigned from this post in January 1814. He married that year and moved to a plantation in Rosement, Laurens County, SC.
Education
Years at LLS:
1810
Other Education:
In preparation for college he studied with Dr. Abner Pyles and then attended Mt. Bethel Academy in Newberry, SC. He attended Washington College in Lexington, VA from 1807-1808 where he earned a degree.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office; Military; Agriculture
Admitted To Bar:
Columbia, SC in 1810
Training with Other Lawyers:
He read the law with Langdon Cheves in Charleston, SC and John. C. Calhoun at Abbeyville, SC.
State Posts:
State Representative (SC) 1820-1822
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:
Ledger. "Journals of the Barr - Litchfield County." Litchfield Historical Society.; Catalogue of Litchfield Law School (Hartford, Connecticut: Press of Tiffany, Case and Company, 1849), 8.

Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1810, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.
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