James Hammond Trumbull

Background

James Hammond Trumbull was born on December 20, 1821 in Stonington, Connecticut. He was the son of Gurdon and Sarah Ann (Swan) Trumbull of Stonington, Connecticut, and a brother of Henry Clay Trumbull.

Education

He studied at Tracy's Academy in Norwich and at Yale University from 1838, but ill-health prevented his graduation, he was enrolled in 1850 and received an honorary LLD in 1871.

Trumbull's work brought him several honorary degrees.

Career

After assisting James Harvey Linsley in cataloging the mammalia, birds, reptiles, fish, and shells of Connecticut, he was appointed assistant secretary of state in Connecticut in 1847.

Upon the establishment of the Watkinson Library of Reference at Hartford, he was appointed trustee and librarian, and after 1866 devoted his full time to the duties of librarian. In 1890 he was appointed librarian emeritus.

While serving as assistant secretary of state Trumbull transcribed, edited, and published The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Prior to the Union with New Haven Colony, May, 1665 (1850).

This was followed in 1852 by a second volume, covering the period from 1665 to 1677; and in 1859 by a third, covering the period from 1678 to 1689. In the appendix of the third volume was printed "Extracts from the Records of the United Colonies of New England, " comprising such portions of the records as were not published in the second volume (1794) of Ebenezer Hazard's Historical Collections; these "Extracts" appeared as a separate publication in 1859.

He contributed "A Sketch of the Life of Thomas Lechford" to Lechford's Plain Dealing (1867), and to the Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford (1885). The caustic criticism of Connecticut by Samuel Andrew Peters evoked from Trumbull's pen The True-Blue Laws of Connecticut and New Haven and the False-Blue Laws Invented by the Rev. Samuel Peters (1876), and The Rev. Samuel Peters, His Defenders and Apologists (1877), reprinted from the Hartford Courant. He also edited The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884 (2 vols. , 1886).

Trumbull made his most noteworthy contributions as the historian and philologist of the Indians. He published in 1865 a translation of John Eliot's Catechism for the Indians, and edited Roger Williams' "A Key into the Language of America" (Publications of the Narragansett Club, vol. I, 1866). Between 1869 and 1876 he contributed seven papers on the language of the Indians to the Transactions of the American Philological Association. He prepared "The Composition of Indian Geographical Names, Illustrated from the Algonkin Languages, " for the Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (vol. II, 1870); "On Some Alleged Specimens of Indian Onomatopoeia, " for the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of the Arts and Sciences (vol. II, 1871 - 73); and an introduction for Abraham Pierson, Some Helps for the Indians, published at Hartford in 1873 and included in Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (vol. III, 1895). His "Origin and Early Progress of Indian Missions in New England, with a List of Books in the Indian Language" appears in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society (1874), and his Indian Names of Places, Etc. , in and on the Borders of Connecticut: with Interpretations of Some of Them was published at Hartford in 1881. To The Memorial History of Hartford County he contributed "Indians of the Connecticut Valley. " Upon Trumbull's death, a "Natick Dictionary" in manuscript was deposited in the library of the American Antiquarian Society; it was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1903 (Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 25, 1903).

Trumbull was also a bibliographer of note. His Catalogue of the American Library of the Late Mr. George Brinley of Hartford, Connecticut (5 vols. , 1878 - 97) still serves as a guide to Americana. At the time of his death a "List of Books Printed in Connecticut, 1709-1800" existed in manuscript and it was subsequently edited by his daughter and published in 1904 by the Acorn Club.

After a brief illness he died on August 5, 1897 at Hartford.

Achievements

• James Hammond Trumbull was an American scholar and philologist who is best remembered for his works include a number about the history of Connecticut, such as Historical Notes on some Provisions of the Connecticut Statutes (1860–1861) and The True Blue Laws of Connecticut (1876). His studies of Native American dialects led to The Composition of Indian Geographical Names (1870), The Best Methods of Studying the Indian Languages (1871), Indian Names of Places in Connecticut (1881) and other similar works.

Works

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  • Historical Notes on the Constitutions of Connecticut, 1639-1818, Particularly on the Origin and Progress of the Movement Which Resulated in the ... and the Adoption of the Present Constitution

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • The True-blue laws of Connecticut and New Haven: and the false blue-laws invented by the Rev. Samuel Peters : to which are added specimens of the laws ... blue-laws of England in the reign of James I.

    (The Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926 ...)

  • The Defence of Stonington (Connecticut)

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638, to July 29, 1641

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Catalogue of the American Library of ... George Brinley By J.H. Trumbull. (Special Ed.)

    (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

  • The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. 2 of 2: Town Histories (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Memorial History of Hartford County, Con...)

  • Natick Dictionary: A New England Indian Lexicon

    ( James Hammond Trumbull was a prolific New England antiq...)

  • Indian Names of Places, etc., In and On the Borders of Connecticut

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • On Some Words Derived From Languages of N. American Indians (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from On Some Words Derived From Languages of N. A...)

  • The Public Records Of The Colony Of Connecticut 1636-1776: From 1665 To 1678, With The Journal Of The Council Of War, 1675 To 1678...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Natick Dictionary

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • The Origin Of M'fingal...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Politics

He received the nomination of the Whig party for the office of secretary of state in 1852, but failed to win the election and declined similar nominations in 1853 and 1854.

Following service as state librarian and registrar, he was again appointed assistant secretary of state in 1858. Three years later he was elected secretary of state on the Republican ticket and held the office until 1866.

Membership

Trumbull's work brought him membership in many historical, philological, and scientific societies.

Connections

He was survived by his widow, Sarah A. (Robinson) Trumbull, whom he had married in 1855, and a daughter, Annie Eliot Trumbull.

Father:

Gurdon Trumbull

Mother:

Sarah Ann (Swan) Trumbull

Spouse:

Sarah A. (Robinson) Trumbull

Daughter:

Annie Eliot Trumbull

References

• Biographical Memoir of James Hammond Trumbull, 1821-1897: National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, V7, No. 5, June, 1911