Pierpont Edwards (1750 - 1826)

Born 8 Apr 1750 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 5 Apr 1826 at age 75 in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States

Biography

Soldier Pierrepont Edwards served with Lexington Alarm - April 1775, Connecticut Militia during the American Revolution.

Pierrepont Edwards is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A036750.

Pierpont Edwards was a delegate to the American Continental Congress, and later a United States federal judge.

Birth

08 APR 1750 Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts (Edward Genealogy)

Marriage

m2. Oct. 6, 1818 Polly Tucker (Arnold)

Death

05 APR 1826 Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA (Edward Genealogy)

His death notice reads: "In this town, on the 5th inst. the Honourable Pierpont Edwards, aged 76 years. Judge Edwards was born at Northampton, in the state of Massachusetts, and was the youngest and only surviving child of President Edwards. Having graduated at Princeton College, and pursued his legal studies with great diligence, he settled at New Haven about the year 1771, and commenced the practice of the law, which he pursued near forty years. He took an early and efficient part in the councils of this State in favor of Independence; was repeatedly a member of Congress under the Confederation; an able advocate of the Constitution of the United States, in the convention held to ratify that instrument; for a long time District Attorney of the United States for this District; and at his death Judge of the District Court. As a patriot, he was ardent and persevering, and his powerful talents were exerted in securing the rights and promoting the welfare of his country. The prime of his life was spent at the bar, where he had to contend with talents of the highest order, both in this and the neighboring states; and public opinion has long since assigned his rank among th great lawyers of our country. it is not too much to say that as a lawyer he was pre-eminently distinguished for his profound legal acquirements, the energy of his mind, the brilliancy of his wit, and the splendor of his eloquence.

In kindness to the younger brethren of the bar, in a high sense of honor, and the abhorrence of every think-like trick and chicanery in the profession, he afforded an excellent example for imitation. Few men have been blessed with such various and extraordinary endowments.

He was remarkable for the frankness and decision of character; and his disinterested and ardent friendship. He was humane and charitable, and through a long life, he maintained a reputation for the most unsullied integrity." ^[1]

Probate

His will is dated 14 September 1817 and proved on 11 April 1826 in Stratford. He mentions his children, Ogden Edwards of New York, Henry Waggaman Edwards of New Haven, Susan Johnson, wife of Samuel William Johnson, Alfred P. Edwards of New York, Henrietta Frances Whitney, wife of Eli Whitney of New Haven, Sally Bristol, wife of William Bristol of New Haven, Horatio Hampden Edwards of New Haven, and John Starke Edwards, decd., his grandson, William Edwards of Ohio, only surviving child of his son John Starke Edwards, Polly Tucker (she lived with the family).^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Connecticut Courier, Wednesday, April 12, 1826, Bridgeport, CT, Vol XII, Issue 620, Page 3. GenealogyBank.com
2. ↑ “Probate records v. 7-8 1820-1834”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-YXHF : 26 January 2023), FHL microfilm 007627135, image 186, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, Vol 7, 1820-1829, Pages 334-335.

• Moffat, R. Burnham. Pierrepont Genealogies from Norman times to 1913 (L. Middleditch Company, 1913) Page 56
• Wheeler, William Ogden. The Ogden Family in America (Printed for Private Circulation by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1907) Page 84,Page 139
• Province of New York - Marriage Licenses, previous to 1784: 1769 04 Sep; Pierpont Edwards; Frances Ogden
• Robison, Jeannie. Genealogical Records, Manuscript Entries of Births, Deaths and Marriages Taken From Family Bibles, 1581-1917 (The Colonial Dames of the State of New York, New York, 1917) Page 167
• Photo Source: Wikipedia: Pierpont Edwards
• Edwards Genealogy
• Year-Book of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (1900-1903) Page 824: Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven.
• Bowen's Boston News-Letter and City Record (Abel Bown, Boston, 1826) Vol. 1, No. 17
• Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 (Providence, R.I., Narragansett Historical Pub. Co., 1910) Vol. 19: Providence Phenix, Providence Patriot, and Columbian Phenix - Deaths: N to Z. Rhode Island American - Marriages: A to G.

• Page 525: "Edwards, Hon. Pierpont and Polly Tucker, at Bridgeport, Ct., Oct. 6, 1818"

• Historical sketch of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, p.3-5.
• Dictionary of American Biography, VI, 43-44.
• Harte, Brian. Land in the Old Northwest: A Study of Speculation, Sales, and Settlement on the Connecticut Western Reserve, "Ohio History Journal"

• "Pierpont Edwards was one of the major investors in the Connecticut Land Company. The youngest son of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards, he was a prominent lawyer, politician, and judge in New Haven and Bridgeport between his first election to the state legislature in 1777 and his death in 1826. He was a leader in the Democratic-Republican party and a major liberal voice in state politics. He was also a promiscuous land speculator, entering into ventures in Vermont, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. He worked as an attorney for both the South Carolina Yazoo Land Company and the Connecticut Susquehanna Company. Edwards invested sixty thousand dollars in the Connecticut Land Company, thereby laying claim to 5 percent of the Company holdings on the Reserve."
• "Pierpont Edwards was living proof that speculators were not always fully aware of the proceedings of their land agents or of the conditions under which settlers lived on the Reserve. Although the Connecticut Land Company was a failure, Edwards did not learn from its mistakes and improve his own managerial techniques. Settlement upon his Reserve lands remained erratic and slow after 1810. Edwards' first agent in the Western Reserve was his son John S. Edwards, who died in 1813."

• Connecticut Land Company investors in WRHS Tract No. 96, 131-34
• Atwater, Edward Elias. History of The City of New Haven to The Present Time (W.W. Munsell & Co., New York, 1887) Page 243-4.
• Clark, Solomon. Antiquities, Historicals and Graduates of Northampton (Gazette Print. Co., Northampton, Mass., 1882) Page 69-70 & Page 301.