Background
He was son of Review John and Susanna (Perkins) Staples, and was born in Canterbury, Connecticut.
He was son of Review John and Susanna (Perkins) Staples, and was born in Canterbury, Connecticut.
He graduated from Yale in 1797.
He founded what became the New Haven Law School, which was absorbed by Yale University as their Yale Law School. After studying law for two years in the office of Judge Daggett, in New Haven, Connecticut, he was admitted to the bar in Litchfield, Connecticut, in September 1799. He began to practice his profession in New Haven.
In 1846 the School thus originated, having meanwhile passed into other hands, was formally recognized by the Corporation of Yale College, as the Law Department of that Institution.
During his residence in New Haven, he was several times a Representative of the town, in the Legislature of Connecticut, but he withdrew wholly from public life in 1816. In 1824 he removed from New Haven to New York City, where he was wholly devoted to his profession till about 1856.
He died in New York City, November 6, 1861, aged 85. This article incorporates public domain material from the Yale Obituary Record.