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Henry Leavitt Ellsworth (November 10, 1791 - December 27, 1858) was a U.S. administrator. Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw Year 1791 ( MDCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1858 ( MDCCCLVIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The United States of America —commonly referred to as the An Administrator ( Administrator of the Government, Officer Administering the Government) in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth

Ellsworth was born in Windsor, Connecticut, a son of Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth and Abigail Wolcott, graduated from Yale University in 1810, and studied law at Litchfield Law School. Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in Oliver Ellsworth ( April 29 1745 &ndash November 26 1807) an American lawyer and politician was a revolutionary against British The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield Connecticut was the first law school in the United States, having been established in 1773 by Tapping Reeve On June 22, 1813, he married Nancy Allen Goodrich, daughter of Judge Elizur Goodrich and Anne Willard, with whom he had three children. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 1813 ( MDCCCXIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Elizur Goodrich ( March 24, 1761 - November 1, 1849) was an American lawyer and politician from Connecticut. Later in life, he had two subsequent wives, Marietta Mariana Bartlett and then Catherine Smith. Ellsworth was named in part for his grandmother's family, the Leavitts of Suffield, Connecticut. Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. [1] After studying law under Judge Gould in Litchfield, Connecticut, he settled first at Windsor and then at Hartford, where he remained eight or ten years. Litchfield is a town in and former County seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, and is known as an affluent summer

In 1832, he traveled west as U. S. Commissioner of Indian Tribes in Arkansas and Oklahoma, appointed to oversee the removal of Native Americans to Oklahoma, accompanied on the expedition by three companions: noted author Washington Irving who recorded his impressions in A Tour on the Prairies; Charles La Trobe, an Englishman, mountaineer and travel writer who later served in the British diplomatic corps in the West Indies and Australia; and Swiss Count Albert Pourtales. Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Washington Irving (April 3 1783 – November 28 1859 was an American Author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th Charles Joseph La Trobe ( 20 March 1801 – 4 December 1875) was the first lieutenant-governor of the colony of Victoria [2]

In 1835, Ellsworth was elected mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, but had served only a month when he was appointed the first Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, an office he held for ten years -- from 1835 until 1845. The United States Patent and Trademark Office ( PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues Patents to Year 1835 ( MDCCCXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common His twin brother William W. Ellsworth was Governor of Connecticut from 1838 to 1842, and served as a U. William W Ellsworth (1791-1868 was a Yale-educated attorney who served as Governor of Connecticut a three-term United States Congressman a Justice on the State Supreme Court and who Colonial governors See also List of colonial governors of Connecticut Governors of the State of Connecticut 1776&ndashpresent S. Congressman from Connecticut as well. William Wolcott Ellsworth was married to the daughter of Noah Webster, a farmer's son who began publishing dictionaries.

In this role as Commissioner, he found one third of the floor-space in his office occupied by over 60 models of inventions; he moved them to a separate room. He also found that no list of patent applicants had ever been drawn up, a deficiency he corrected.

Acting as Patent Commissioner, Ellsworth made a decision that would profoundly affect the future of Hartford and Connecticut. The young Samuel Colt, struggling to establish a firm to manufacture his new revolver, was aided by Ellsworth, who in 1836 made the decision to issue Colt U. Samuel Colt ( July 19, 1814 &ndash January 10, 1862) was an American inventor and Industrialist. S. Patent No. 138. On the basis of Ellsworth's decision, Colt was able to raise some $200,000 from investors to incorporate the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, New Jersey, the forerunner of the mighty Colt arms manufacturing empire. [3]

In today's world Ellsworth would be described as an early technology adapter. He became so interested, for instance, in a new-fangled invention by Samuel Morse called the telegraph that he obtained a $30,000 grant from Congress to test the possibilities of the technology. Samuel Finley Breese Morse ( April 27, 1791 &ndash April 2, 1872) was an American painter of portraits and historic [4]

From Ellworth's exposure to the West and knowledge of inventions, he prophesied late in life that the lands of the West would be cultivated by means of steam plows. The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost This prophecy was introduced in the probate of his will in an attempt to prove that he was of unsound mind.

A comment of his relating to the increased workload at the patent office, taken out of context and embellished, was apparently the source of the urban legend that a patent office official (Charles H. Duell in some versions) claimed that everything which could be invented has been invented. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them Charles H Duell was the commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1899 and is famous for purportedly saying "Everything that can be invented [5]

Following Ellworth's stint in the Patent Office, he settled in Lafayette, Indiana, acting as an agent for purchase and settlement of public land, but in 1857 returned to Connecticut. Lafayette (ˌlɑːfijˈɛt is a city in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, U Ellsworth later served as an early president of the Aetna Insurance Company. Aetna Inc ( is an American diversified Health care benefits company providing a range of traditional and Consumer directed health care insurance He was an early benefactor of Yale College, donating some $700,000 to his alma mater. Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887 [6]

Ellsworth died, aged 67, on December 27, 1858 in Fair Haven, Connecticut. Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1858 ( MDCCCLVIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Fair Haven is a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city of New Haven, Connecticut located between the Mill and Quinnipiac His papers are collected in the Yale University Library. Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven Connecticut, United States.

References

  1. ^ The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass., Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, New York, 1874
  2. ^ The Journal of the Union Mission, Hope Holway, University of Oklahoma
  3. ^ Gunmaker to the World, Ellsavorth S. Grant, American Heritage Magazine, June, 1968, americanheritage.com
  4. ^ The Story of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patentmodelassociation.com
  5. ^ Samuel Sass (May-June, 2003). "A Patently False Patent Myth still". Skeptical Inquirer.  
  6. ^ The Connecticut Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, Wiliam Farrand Felch, Vol. I, January, 1895, Hartford

External links

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