Pierpont Edwards (1750-1826)

He was born at Northampton in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. After graduating from what is now Princeton University, he started private practice as a lawyer at New Haven. During the Revolution, he served in the Connecticut Militia. In 1777, he was first elected to the State Legislature and was Speaker form 1787 to 1790. He was a Delegate to the Continental Congress and a Member of the State Convention that ratified the Constitution. In 1800, he was chief among those who organized the Jeffersonian Republicans and was recognized as the party's leader in Connecticut, serving as Chairman of the General Committee. In 1801, he was appointed administrator of the estate of Benedict Arnold; and, in 1806, Jefferson appointed him Judge of the District Court of Connecticut. In 1818, he was Chairman of the Committee that drafted the New State Constitution. He married Frances, daughter of Moses Ogden of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and they were the parents of six children (listed). He was the father of Henry W. Edwards, 27th Governor of Connecticut; father-in-law of the inventor and industrialist, Eli Whitney; and, uncle of U.S. Vice-President Aaron Burr.