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James Davis
Gender:
Male
Born:
1795 or 1796
Died:
June 1822
Home Town:
Syrna, DE
Biographical Notes:
Davis died by suicide in Wilmington, DE.
Additional Notes:
While attending Litchfield Law School in 1817, Davis was engaged to Litchfield Female Academy student Amelia Peck from New Haven but she didn't meet Davis' father's standards and he was forced to end the relationship.
On November 17, 1816, Sarah Pierce's sister Mary wrote to former Litchfield Law Student Charles G. Loring about "Miss Amelia Peck," “the young lady Mr. Davis was engaged to,” and “Mr. Davis [had] unkindly broken their long engagement.”
Pierce said Amelia was lovely in appearance, “but there is an indelicacy in her visiting at a Gentleman’s boardinghouse.”
Pierce deemed Davis “an excellent man” since “[a good son] resolves to comply with his father’s wishes and marry a lady of fortune in Delaware. Tho’ still professing in a letter to Mrs. Lord ...
[more]
On November 17, 1816, Sarah Pierce's sister Mary wrote to former Litchfield Law Student Charles G. Loring about "Miss Amelia Peck," “the young lady Mr. Davis was engaged to,” and “Mr. Davis [had] unkindly broken their long engagement.”
Pierce said Amelia was lovely in appearance, “but there is an indelicacy in her visiting at a Gentleman’s boardinghouse.”
Pierce deemed Davis “an excellent man” since “[a good son] resolves to comply with his father’s wishes and marry a lady of fortune in Delaware. Tho’ still professing in a letter to Mrs. Lord ...
[more]
Education
Years at LLS:
1816-1817
Other Education:
Graduated from Yale College in 1815.
Related Objects and Documents
Other:
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:
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 Litchfie
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