Oliver Ellsworth, the subject of this sketch, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, April 29, 1745. His ancestors were among the first settlers of that town; having emigrated from Yorkshire, England, in 1650. His parents, like most of the inhabitants of the colony, were engaged in agricultural pursuits; and were in comfortable, though by no means affluent circumstances. Young Oliver spent his time alternately in laboring with his father in the management of the farm, and in the elementary studies of a liberal education, until the age of seventeen, when he entered Yale College. He remained in this institution two years; when, from some cause which tradition has not transmitted to us, he left and entered Nassau Hall, where he was graduated in 1776. His father had early destined him for the ministry, and accordingly he now spent a year in the study of theology, under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. Bellamy, at that time one of the most distinguished of the Connecticut divines. But Oliver's inclination for the law triumphed over his father's predilections for theology; and, having been admitted to the bar in Hartford county, two or three years after leaving college, he entered on the practice of his profession in his native town. However little enthusiasm young Oliver might have felt in the prosecution of theological speculations, he certainly advanced far enough in them to become convinced that it is not good for man to be alone; and he accordingly now led to the Hymeneal altar his first love, Miss Abigail Wolcott, daughter of William Wolcott esq., of East Windsor. His father presented him with a small farm, situated in the north-western corner of Windsor, and in the management of this and of the few suits with which his acquaintances and friends entrusted him, his ardent and active mind was forced for a time to content itself. As often as the session of the court occurred at Hartford, leaving his farm and revolving his cases in his mind, he |