Titus Hosmer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Delegate fromConnecticut to theContinental Congress | |
| In office 1778–1780 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | James Wadsworth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1736 (1736) West Hartford,Connecticut Colony, British America |
| Died | 4 August 1780(1780-08-04) (aged 43–44) Middletown, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mortimer Cemetery, Middletown |
| Alma mater | Yale College (B.A., 1757) |
| Profession | Lawyer, jurist, politician |
Titus Hosmer (1736 – August 4, 1780) was an AmericanFounding Father, lawyer, and jurist fromMiddletown, Connecticut. He was a delegate forConnecticut to theContinental Congress in 1778, when he signed theArticles of Confederation.
Titus was born inWest Hartford, Connecticut, attendedYale and graduated in 1757. Heread for the law, was admitted to the bar, and began a practice inMiddletown, Connecticut. Hosmer was elected to theConnecticut State Assembly annually from 1773 to 1778 and served as their speaker in 1777. In May 1778, he became a member of the State Senate and remained in that office until he died. Later in 1778, the joint state legislature sent him as one of theirdelegates to theSecond Continental Congress. He was subsequently elected by the Continental Congress on January 22, 1780, to serve as a federal judge on theCourt of Appeals in Cases of Capture.[1]
Titus died at Middletown on August 4, 1780, of undisclosed causes, and is buried in the Mortimer Cemetery there.Joel Barlow, who received Hosmer's patronage, wrote a much-admired elegy on his death.
Hosmer married Lydia Lord on November 29, 1761, in Middletown. One son,Stephen Hosmer, became a lawyer and was the chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. The other son,Hezekiah Lord Hosmer, became aU.S. representative forNew York. A grandson, also namedHezekiah Lord Hosmer, became the first chief justice of theMontana Territory and authored several books.
The Hosmer family is traced toRotherfield inSussex (and much earlier toOtterhampton,Somerset), where Alexander Hosmer was native before amarian martyr in nearbyLewes and the family consequently moved toKent in the following generations.[citation needed] His colonial ancestor, Colonel Thomas Titus, was aRoundhead in theNew Model Army, who leftHawkhurst in Kent forBoston upon theEnglish Restoration. Thomas Titus later settled in Middletown.
Hosmer had aWhig relative who fought and was mortally wounded in theBattles of Lexington and Concord againstHugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland.[citation needed] There is a Hosmer Corner inHampden County, Massachusetts named for the family although the Hosmer's are more renowned asfounders of Hartford Connecticut.
