Erastus Worthington (October 8, 1779 – June 27, 1842) represented

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by E ...

in the

Great and General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. The name "General Court" is a holdover from the earliest days of ...

Personal life

Worthington was born in

Belchertown, Massachusetts Belchertown (previously known as Cold Spring and Belcher's Town) is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropol ...

on October 8, 1779, to David and Affa (née Gilbert) Worthington. In 1804 he was graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

. On May 2, 1815, Worthington married Sally Ellis, the daughter of Abner and Marth Ellis of Dedham. Together they had three sons: Ellis, Albert, and Eratus Jr. His son, Eratus Jr., also had a son named Eratus Worthington.

Career

After graduation, Worthington taught for a time and then began to study law in the office of John Heard. He was admitted to the bar in Boston in 1809 and moved to Dedham in the same year to practice law. He was admitted to the bar of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously fu ...

in 1813. He worked as a lawyer until 1825 when the newly formed Norfolk Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which he had a large hand in creating, elected him its first secretary. He resigned in 1840 for health reasons. He continued to serve as a justice of the peace. In the autumn of 1840 he moved to

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, but returned the following spring to Dedham and remained there until his death two years later.

Politics

During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, Worthington was active as a Republican, and during the administrations of

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

and

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth president of the United States, serving from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as Attorney General o ...

he was a Democrat. He was elected secretary of the Norfolk County Republican Convention on August 17, 1812. From 1814 to 1815 he was a member of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts. Worthington was active in the temperance and anti-slavery movements. He was also an advocate of establishing an equity jurisdiction in the Massachusetts courts and published, anonymously, the first pamphlet in favor of it. His ideas, though not in fashion at the time, were later adopted in 1860.

Historian

Worthington was active in chronicling the history of Dedham. He is credited with being the first to record the town's history.

Notes

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Erastus People from Belchertown, Massachusetts Williams College people Members of the Massachusetts General Court 1779 births 1842 deaths Writers from Dedham, Massachusetts Businesspeople from Dedham, Massachusetts Lawyers from Dedham, Massachusetts 19th-century American lawyers