James Hammond Trumbull (December 20, 1821 – August 5, 1897) was an American historian, philologist, bibliographer, and politician.
Early life and education
Trumbull was born in Stonington, Connecticut, to parents Gurdon and Sarah Ann (Swan) Trumbull. His mother was descended from Stonington's first colonists; his father was a wealthy merchant and state legislator, distantly related to Governor Jonathan Trumbull. James Trumbull's siblings included clergyman and author Henry Clay Trumbull and entomologist and author Annie Trumbull Slosson. Trumbull studied at Tracy's Academy in Norwich and enrolled at Yale University in 1838. He never received his degree, withdrawing before the end of his junior year because of ill health. He subsequently received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Columbia University, both in 1887.
Career
While at Yale, Trumbull developed a keen interest in natural history, particularly conchology. Joining the Yale Natural History Society, he collaborated with James Harvey Linsley to write and publish a three-volume catalog of Connecticut's fish, reptiles, and shellfish in 1844 and 1845. and the National Academy of Sciences in 1872.
Trumbull's contemporaries considered his knowledge of Native American philology second only to Daniel Garrison Brinton. His study of Algonquian languages led him to publish The Composition of Indian Geographical Names (1870), The Best Methods of Studying the Indian Languages (1871), Indian Names of Places in Connecticut (1881), and other works. and at Yale University.
Personal life
In April 1855, Trumbull married Sarah A. Robinson of Hartford. The couple traveled to Europe and Egypt for their honeymoon. Trumbull died of influenza (grippe) following a brief illness at his home in Hartford on August 5, 1897. He was 75 years old.