TIMOTHY EDWARDS.

MEMBER OF MASSACHUSETTS COUNCIL, 1775-1780.*

RICHARD EDWARDS, great-grandfather of Timothy, was a merchant in Hartford, Conn., a man of wealth and intelligence. “At an early age he became a communicant in the Congregational Church, and adorned his profession by a long life of integrity and unusual devotedness to the cause of religion."

Timothy Edwards, grandfather of Timothy, graduated at Harvard College in 1691, became the first minister of East Windsor, Conn., and continued his pastorate in this place more than half a century.

Jonathan Edwards, father of Timothy, was born at East Windsor Oct. 5, 1703; graduated at Yale College in 1720; became pastor of the church at Northampton, Mass.; succeeded Rev. Mr. Sergeant as missionary at Stockbridge, to the Whites and Indians, receiving his salary from London and from the Legislature; accepted in 1758 an appointment to the presidency of New Jersey College, where his labors were soon interrupted by death. In Stockbridge he wrote "Inquiry Concerning the Freedom of the Will," and "Treatise on Original Sin." When the council gave their decision that the cause demanded his labors at Princeton rather than continuance at Stockbridge, he covered his face with his hands and wept. His labors at Northampton were attended by a powerful religious awakening.

Timothy Edwards, oldest son of Jonathan, was born at Northampton July 25, 1738, died at Stockbridge, Oct. 27, 1813.

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He entered Princeton College at the age of fifteen, graduating * Allen's "Biographical Dictionary; History of Stockbridge," by Miss E. F. Jones; Clark's "Northampton Antiquities; History of Berkshire County," edition of 1829.

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in 1757. After his father's sudden decease, the care of the family devolved upon him. He became a merchant and settled in Elizabethtown, N. J., and at the age of thirty-two moved to Stockbridge, Mass., where the family lived at the time he entered college. Here he became " one of the strong men of the county, intellectually and morally, and was long an honored officer in the Congregational Church."

From 1775 until 1780, he was a member of the Council, as it existed in virtue of the English charter, a period in which the government of the State was much entrusted to that body. Before the adoption of the present Constitution of the United States, and while Representatives to Congress in Massachusetts were appointed by the Legislature, Timothy Edwards of Stockbridge was in 1779 appointed a Representative, but declined.

Mr. Edwards was, the father of fifteen children. His son William became a tanner; failed once in business, and "honestly paid up the old debts, from which he was legally discharged, to the amount of $25,000." In his old age, in Dr. Mäson's church, New York, he was a Sunday-school teacher, and a tract distrib

utor.

OLIVER ELLSWORTH.

CHIEF-JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES, 1796-1801.*

DAVID ELLSWORTH, father of Oliver, was a farmer, and lived in Windsor, Conn. He married Jemimah Leavitt, a lady of "good mind and pious principles."

Oliver Ellsworth was born in Windsor, Conn., April 29, 1745; died November 26, 1807.

He passed his early years on his father's farm, prepared for college under the instruction of Rev. Dr. Bellamy, entered Yale College at the age of seventeen, where he remained two years, removed to Princeton College, New Jersey, and graduated in 1766.

The following incident has been given of his student life. "The students were prohibited to wear their hats within the college yard. Ellsworth, on one occasion, was arraigned for violating this law of the institution. He defended himself on the ground that a hat was composed of two parts, the crown and the brim, and as his hat had no brim, which by the by he had torn off, he could be guilty of no offence. This ingenious plea seems to have satisfied the scruples of his judges, and he escaped all. punishment."

He studied law successively with the first Governor Griswold, and the Hon. Jesse Root, and was admitted to the bar in 1771.

In obtaining his education he had incurred pecuniary obligations, of which he determined, before beginning his career as a

*"Lives of Chief-Justices of United States," by Henry Flanders; "Princeton College, Eighteenth Century," by S. D. Alexander; "Dwight's Travels."