Royal Ralph Hinman (June 20, 1785 – October 16, 1868) was an American lawyer and antiquarian who held various public offices in
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, and who wrote on antiquarian subjects.
Biography
Royal Ralph Hinman was born in 1785 in
Southbury, Connecticut, the son of General Ephraim Hinman, a successful Connecticut merchant, and Sylvania (French) Hinman.
He graduated Yale College in 1804, and
Litchfield Law School
The Litchfield Law School was a law school in Litchfield, Connecticut, that operated from 1774 to 1833. Litchfield was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietar ...
in 1806, where he studied law with
David Sherman Boardman and
Noah B. Benedict.
In 1808 he was admitted to the bar in Litchfield County Court, and began to practice law in
Roxbury, Connecticut
Roxbury is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,260 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town is located northeast of New York City, and is p ...
.
In 1814, Hinman married Lydia Ashley Hinman.
He was elected a
Connecticut State Representative in 1814, 1825 and 1831.
He was Postmaster of Roxbury from 1823 to 1833 and was
Secretary of the State of Connecticut
The secretary of the state of Connecticut is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Connecticut. (The definite article is part of the legal job title.) It is an elected position in the state government and has a term length of four ...
from 1825 to 1842.
Between 1835 and 1836 he was a member of the Committee to Revise Public Statutes of Connecticut.
In September 1844, the Port of New Haven appointed him the Collector of Customs.
Works
The Committee to Revise Public Statutes of Connecticut included Hinman, Leman Church and the Hon.
Elisha Phelps.
Between 1835 and 1836 they compiled and published 1640 pages on the private of special acts of the state.
In 1838 Hinman and
Thomas Clap Perkins revised and published the Statutes of Connecticut Revisions of 1838, in 717 pages.
Hinman was a member of the Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey state historical societies.
He published many historical works including the ''Antiquities of Connecticut'' and ''A Historical Collection of the Part Sustained by Connecticut During the War of the Revolution''.
He contributed many Connecticut articles to ''
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register'' during its early years. His ''Catalogue of the Names of the First Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut'' was deemed of sufficient importance to be republished in 2015 (with a revised title) by the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
[''The First Puritan Settlers of Connecticut''. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinman, Royal Ralph
1785 births
1868 deaths
People from Southbury, Connecticut
Connecticut lawyers
Secretaries of the state of Connecticut
Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives
Yale University alumni
Litchfield Law School alumni
People from Roxbury, Connecticut
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly