Charles Edwards Lester or C. Edwards Lester (c. 1815–1890) was an American author and diplomat. Lester was born in

Griswold, Connecticut Griswold is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 11,402 at the 2020 census. Griswold contains the borough of Jewett City and the villages ...

, a descendant of

Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards may refer to: Musicians *Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, pseudonym of bandleader Paul Weston and his wife, singer Jo Stafford *Jonathan Edwards (musician) (born 1946), American musician **Jonathan Edwards (album), ''Jonathan Edward ...

. He was of a roving disposition and traveled widely in the United States and Europe. He was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and later was ordained a minister in the

Presbyterian church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

. In 1840, he addressed antislavery meetings in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and was elected a delegate to the London antislavery conference of that year.The Anti-Slavery Society Convention
, 1840,

Benjamin Robert Haydon Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactle ...

, accessed April 2009 He remained in England after the close of the conference. His ''The Glory and Shame of England'', published in New York in 1841, criticized England's antislavery professions. In 1842, President Tyler appointed Lester United States Consul at

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Books

* ''The Life of Vespucius'' (1845; new edition, 1905) * ''The Artist, The Merchant, and the Statesman of the age of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

and of Our own Times'' (two volumes, 1845) * Sam Houston and His Republic (1846) * ''The Artists of America : a series of biographical sketches of American Artists'' (1846) * ''My Consulship'' (two volumes, 1851)A Dictionary of Books Relating to America
accessed October 2015 * ''The Napoleon Dynasty'' (1852) * ''The Life of Sam Houston'' (1855) * ''Passages from the History of the United States'' (1866) * ‘’Our First Hundred Years’’ (1874) * ''America's Advancement, or the Progress of the United States during their First Century'' (1875) * ''The Mexican Republic'' (1878) * a ''Life of

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...

'' (1874) * ''Life and character of

Peter Cooper Peter Cooper (February 12, 1791April 4, 1883) was an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and politician. He designed and built the first American steam locomotive, the ''Tom Thumb (locomotive), Tom Thumb'', founded the Cooper Union ...

'' (1883)

Gallery

C Edwards Lester.jpg, Charles Edwards Lester C. 1840 File:Lester Battle Ground of San Jacinto 1846 UTA.jpg, Lester's 1846 map, ''Battle Ground of San Jacinto''

References

* 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers American biographers People from Griswold, Connecticut 1810s births 1890 deaths 19th-century American lawyers American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub