Jonathan Sturges

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title: "Jonathan Sturges" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1740-births", "1819-deaths", "continental-congressmen-from-connecticut", "united-states-representatives-from-connecticut", "yale-college-alumni", "lawyers-from-fairfield,-connecticut", "members-of-the-connecticut-general-assembly-council-of-assistants-(1662–1818)", "american-lawyers-admitted-to-the-practice-of-law-by-reading-law", "19th-century-american-lawyers", "sturges-family", "justices-of-the-connecticut-supreme-court", "18th-century-united-states-representatives"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Sturges" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Jonathan Sturges
state	Connecticut
district	at-large
term_start	March 4, 1789
term_end	March 3, 1793
predecessor	Roger Sherman
successor	Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.
birth_date
birth_place	Fairfield, Connecticut Colony, British America
death_date
death_place	Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S.
occupation	Lawyer, Jurist, Politician
spouse	Deborah Lewis Sturges
children	Lewis Burr Sturges, Jonathan Sturges, Barnabas Lothrop Sturges and Priscilla Sturges
party	Pro-Administration Party
otherparty
alma_mater	Yale College
::

| name = Jonathan Sturges| | state = Connecticut | district = at-large | term_start = March 4, 1789 | term_end = March 3, 1793 | predecessor = Roger Sherman | successor = Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. | state2 = | district2 = | term_start2 = | term_end2 = | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | birth_date = | birth_place = Fairfield, Connecticut Colony, British America | death_date = | death_place = Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S. | occupation = Lawyer, Jurist, Politician | spouse = Deborah Lewis Sturges | children = Lewis Burr Sturges, Jonathan Sturges, Barnabas Lothrop Sturges and Priscilla Sturges | relations = | nationality = | party = Pro-Administration Party | otherparty = | alma_mater = Yale College | religion =

Jonathan Sturges (August 23, 1740 – October 4, 1819) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician from Fairfield, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress and in the United States House of Representatives.

Early life

Sturges was born in Fairfield in the Connecticut Colony where his father, Samuel (1712–1771) was a surveyor. His mother, Ann (Burr) Sturges was Samuel's second wife.{{cite web|url= http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mmunoz&id=I055996|title = Jonathan Sturges |publisher= Ancestry.com |accessdate= December 30, 2012}} His great-great-grandfather, also Jonathan Sturges (1624–1700), was one of the original settlers of the town.

Sturges graduated from Yale in 1759. He earned his master's degree from Yale in 1761, and his Doctor of Laws degree from Yale in 1806. He read law, and was admitted to the bar in May 1772. He began the practice of law in Fairfield.

Career

Sturges' entry into public service came when his neighbors in Fairfield sent him to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1772. He was returned every year until 1784. In 1773 he served Fairfield County as a justice of the peace, and in 1775 he served as the judge of probate court. Connecticut sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786. He served as a member of the Connecticut Council of Assistants from 1786 to 1788, and simultaneously served as a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors from 1786 to 1789.

When the new United States government was formed, the voters elected him to the U.S. House as a Pro-Administration Party candidate. He served two terms in Congress from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1793.{{cite web|url= http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jonathan_sturges/410501|title =Rep. Jonathan Sturges |publisher= Govtrack.us |accessdate= December 30, 2012}} Sturges was one of seven representatives to vote against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.

Upon returning home, he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, serving from 1793 until 1805. He was a presidential elector in 1797 and 1805.

Sturges died at his home in Fairfield on October 4, 1819.

Personal life

In 1760 Sturges married Deborah Lewis. They had four children together.

Their son, Lewis Burr Sturges, would follow his father in the U.S. Congress.

Jonathan Sturges, an important arts patron in New York City, was his grandson.

References

References

1. "The Sturges Family". Fairfield History.org.
2. Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence and John De Witt. (1900). "Universities and their sons: history, influence and characteristics of American universities, with biographical sketches and portraits of alumni and recipients of honorary degrees, Volume 5". R. Herndon company.
3. Denboer, Gordon R. (1984). "Documentary History of the First Federal Elections, 1788-1790". Univ of Wisconsin Press.
4. "STURGES, Jonathan, (1740-1819)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
5. "Sturges, Jonathan (1740-1819)". The Political Graveyard.
6. Day, Thomas. (1809). "Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Errors, of the State of Connecticut, in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807".
7. "Voteview {{!}} Plot Vote: 2nd Congress > House > 85".
8. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. (1919). "The New York genealogical and biographical record". New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
9. "Sturges, Lewis Burr (1763-1844)". The Political Graveyard.
10. Oaklander, Christine I.. (2008). "Jonathan Sturges, W. H. Osborn, and William Church Osborn: A Chapter in American Art Patronage". Metropolitan Museum Journal.

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