Benjamin Trumbull was born in Hebron, Conn. December 19, 1735. He was the son of Benjamin Trumbull of Hebron (1712-), grandson of Benoni Trumbull of Hebron (1684-1770), great grandson of Joseph Trumbull of Suffield, Conn. (1647-84), and great-great-grandson of John Trumbull, who appears on record at Roxbury, Mass. In 1639, and Rowley, Mass. In 1640, having emigrated from New Castle-on Tyne, England, 1639, and not from the Wes of Wales, as Sprague erroneously states in his “Annals of the American Pulpit.” Among his most distinguished family connections were Governor Jonathan Trumbull, to whom he refers to in his preface, a first cousin once removed; Colonel John Trumbull, the artist, and his brothers Jonathan and Joseph, who were his first cousins; and Dr. John Trumbull, the lawyer-poet, author of “McFingal,” also was a first cousin. His most distinguished lineal descendant was his grandson, the Hon. Lyman Trumbull, U.S. Senator from Illinois, and afterwards distinguished as a lawyer and jurist.

His career as a clergyman is remarkable, even during the times of pastorates in which he lived. He was the pastor of the North Haven Congregational Church for sixty years of continuous service, interrupted only for six months by his services as chaplain in the Fifth Battalion of Wadsworth’s Brigade, during which time he was with this battalion in the important period covering the battle of Long Island and the retreat from New York. This service is officially recorded as extending from June 24 to December 25, 1776. Eye-witnesses have told us that, at that battle of White Plains, his patriotism would not allow him to remain in clerical garb among the non-combatants, but that he shouldered his musket, and loaded and fired with coolness and the utmost precision of which he was capable. Immediately on his return to North Haven, January 5, 1777, his martial spirit again so asserted itself that he temporarily exchanged the word for the sword, and was chosen captain of a company of sixty volunteers of that town. He was also to be found at the post of danger at the time of Tryon’s invasion of New Haven, July 4, 1779.

All accounts agree that he was a man of wonderful vigor and activity even up to the time of his death, at the advanced age of eighty-five. But nine days before that time he preached his last sermon. He died on the 2d of February, 1820. hee is also described as a man of courteous demeanor and quick intelligence.

The fullest account of his career which is known to me is in Sheldon B. Thrope’s “North Haven Annals.” Sprague’s “Annals of the American Pulpit” devotes five pages to him, and gives personal reminiscences of contemporaries. For the most part, his career of steady, untiring clerical and literary labor would reveal but little to interest the reader of today.

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