SEDGWICK, Robert, soldier, born in England about 1590; died in Jamaica, Wisconsin, 24 May, 1656. He had been a member of the Artillery company in London, and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1635. He engaged in business, became a successful merchant, and was for many years a deputy From Charlestown to the general court. He was one of the founders of the Ancaent and honorable artillery company in 1638, its captain in 1640, and commanded the castle in 1641. In 1643 he became colonel of the Middlesex regiment, and in 1652 commander of all the Massachusetts militia. He was associated with John Winthrop, Jr., in 1643-'4, in establishing the first furnace and iron-works in the country. He was employed to expel the French from Penobscot in 1654, was engaged in the expedition against the Spanish West Indies in 1655. when Jamaica was taken, and was one of three commissioners appointed by Cromwell to govern that island. Just before his death the protector advanced him to the sole command with the rank of major-general.--His descendant, Theodore, statesman, born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1746; died in Boston, 24 January, 1813, lost his father when he was thirteen years of age, and was aided by his brother to enter Yale, which he left in 1765, owing to a slight misdemeanor, without being graduated. He afterward studied divinity, but abandoned it for law, was admitted to the bar in April, 1766, and practised in Great Barrington, and afterward in Sheffield, Massachusetts Though always strongly attached to the mother country, he engaged in the war of the Revolution with ardor on the side of the colonies, served as aide to General John Thomas in his expedition to Canada in 1776, and was subsequently actively engaged in procuring supplies for the army. He represented Sheffield in the Massachusetts legislature both before and after the Revolution, and was a member of the Continental congress in 1785-'6. In the winter of 1787 he was active in the suppression of Shays's rebellion, and incurred the especial enmity of the insurgents, who frequently threatened his life. His house was attacked by them during his absence in the legislature. He was an active member of tile Massachusetts convention that ratified the constitution of the United States in 1788. In 1789 he was elected to congress, of which he remained a representative by successive elections till March, 1796, when he was elected to the United States senate. He served in this body for three years, and was president pro tempore in 1797. In 1799 he was again elected to the house of representatives, and was chosen its speaker. In 1802 he was appointed a judge of the supreme , court of Massachusetts, which office he held till his death. Soon after the adoption of the Massachusetts constitution Elizabeth Freeman, a negro slave of great force of character and intelligence, having fled from her master in consequence of cruel treatment, Judge Sedgwick defended her from the latter's suit to recover his slave. The court pronounced her free, thus making the earliest practical application, so far as known, of the declaration of the Massachusetts bill of rights, that "all men are born free and equal." He was an active member of the old Federal party, and an intimate associate of many of its leaders. His judicial opinions were remarkable for clearness of expression and elegance of diction. He was a member of the American academy of arts and sciences, and in 1799 received the degree of LL.D. from Princeton.--His eldest son, Theodore, lawyer, born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, 31 December, 1780 ; died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 7 November, 1839, was graduated at Yale in 1798, studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1801, and practised at Albany till 1821, when he removed to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, owing to impaired health, and retired from the active practice of his profession. He afterward interested himself in agriculture, was repeatedly chosen president of the Agricultural society of the county, was a member of the legislature in 1824, 1825, and 1827, and in the last year carried through . a bill for the construction of a railroad across the mountains from Boston to Albany, which had been generally regarded as a chimerical scheme. He was for a series of years the unsuccessful candidate of the Democratic party for lieutenant-governor. He was an earnest advocate of free-trade and temperance, and an opponent of slavery. His death resulted from a stroke of apoplexy, which occurred at the close of an address to the Democratic citizens of Pittsfield. He published "Hints to my Countrymen " (1826); "Public and Private Economy, illustrated by Observations made in Europe in 1836-'7" (3 vols., New York, 1838); and addresses to the Berkshire agricultural association (1823 and 1830).--His wife, Susan Ridley, author, born about 1789; died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1867, was a granddaughter of Governor William Livingston, of New Jersey, and the author of '" Morals of Pleasure" (Philadelphia, 1829); " The Young Emigrants" (Boston, 1830) ; "Alien Prescott" (2 vols., New York, 1835); "Alida, or Town or Country" (1844); and "Walter Thornley" (1859). The Sedgwick mansion at Stockbridge is seen in the illustration on page 452.--Henry Dwight, second son of the first Theodore, author, born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in 1785; died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 23 December. 1831, was graduated at Williams college in 1804, and became an eminent member of the New York bar. He contributed to the "North American Review" and other journals, and published an "Appeal to the City of New York on the Proposed Alteration of its Charter." His "English Practice of the Common Law" (New York, 1822) was an argument against the complexity and absurdity of that system which was one of the first suggestions of the code of civil procedure afterward adopted by the state of New York. He was an ardent opponent of slavery and an advocate of free-trade, in support of which he published numerous papers, including a series of forty-seven articles in the ''Banner of the Constitution." Mr. Sedgwick was instrumental in persuading William Cullen Bryant to remove to New York, and was one of the first to appreciate his talents. During the struggle of the Greeks for independence two frigates that had been built for them in this country were detained to answer exorbitant charges for their construction. Through the exertions of Mr. Sedgwick and his associate counsel one of the ships was discharged from attachment and sent to Greece. His death was caused by paralysis, brought on by his efforts in this litigation. His "Refutation of the Reasons in the Award in the Case of the Two Greek Frigates" was subsequently published (1826).--The first Theodore's daughter, Catherine Maria, author, born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 28 December, 1789; died near Roxbury, Massachusetts, 31 July. 1867, received an excellent education, and, on her father's death in 1813, undertook the management of a private school for young ladies, and continued it for fifty years. Her brothers Theodore and Henry encouraged the development of her powers. Miss Sedgwick's first work of fiction, "A New England Tale," appeared anonymously (New York, 1822: last ed., with "Miscellanies," 1856), and its very favorable reception encouraged her to prosecute authorship. "Redwood" followed (2 vols., 1824), also anonymous. It was reprinted in England, and translated into four European languages, the French translator erroneously attributing the authorship to James Fenimore Cooper. "The Traveller" appeared next (1825); "Hope Leslie, or Early Times in Massachusetts" (2 vols., 1827); "Clarence, a Tale of our Own Times" (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1830) ; "Le Bossu," one of the "Tales of the Glauber Spa" (1832) ; and "The Linwoods, or Sixty Years Since in America" (2 vols., 1835). This was the last, and by many is thought to be the best, of her novels. That year she also published a collection of her "Sketches and Tales" from the magazines. She next issued a series of papers illustrative of common every-day life, and inculcating moral lessons, under the title of "The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man" (New York, 1836), in 1837 " Live and Let Live," and in 1838 "A Love-Token for Children" and " Means and Ends, or Self-Training." In the spring of 1839 she visited Europe, travelling for a year, and conveying her impressions in "Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home," which were published after her return (2 vols., 1841). These were followed that same year by " Historical Sketches of the Old Painters" and biographies of the sisters "Lucretia and Margaret Davidson." Among her other works are " Wilton Harvey, and Other Tales "(1845) ; "Morals of Manners "(1846); "Factsand Fancies" (1848); and " Married or Single?" (1857). Miss Sedgwick both edited and wrote articles for literary periodical publications, and she contributed largely to the annuals. Collections of these papers constitute several volumes of her works. She is thoroughly American in thought and feeling, and with very marked individuality, of the best New England type. Her delineations of character and manners, as then found, in her native state, are unsurpassed for their picturesqueness and truth. See her "Life and Letters," by Mary E. Dewey (New York, 1871).--Elizabeth Dwight, author, married Charles, a sell of the first Theodore, and was well known as a teacher. She wrote "Beatitudes and Pleasant Sundays," "Lessons without Books," " A Talk with my Pupils" (New York, 1863), and "Spanish Conquest." --The second Theodore's son Theodore, lawyer, born in Albany, New York, 27 January, 1811 ; died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 9 December, 1859, was graduated at Columbia ill 1829, and admitted to the bar in May, 1833. The following fifteen months he passed in Europe, principally in Paris, as an attache to the United States embassy under Edward Livingston. On his return he practised law successfully in New York till 1850, when failing health forced him to desist for a time from active professional labor. President Buchanan tendered him the mission to the Hague in 1857, and he twice declined the office of assistant secretary of state. In January, 1858, he was appointed United States attorney for the southern district ot ls ew York, which office he held till his death. He was president of the New York Crystal palace association in 1852. Mr. Sedgwick was a frequent contributor to periodicals and newspapers, and published "Memoir of William Livingston" (New York, 1833) ; "What is Monopoly ?" (1835) ; "Statement re New York Court of Chancery" (1838); "Thoughts on the Annexation of Texas," a series of papers in opposition to that measure (1844); "Treatise on the Measure of Damages, or an Inquiry into the Principles which govern the Amount of Compensation in Suits at Law" (1847); "The American Citizen: a Discourse, at Union College" (1847) ; and" Treatise on the Rules which govern the Interpretation and Application of Statutory and Constitutional Law" (1857; 2d ed., enlarged, with notes by John Norton Pomeroy, 1874). He edited the political writings of William Leggett (2 vols., New York, 1840).--The third Theodore's son, Arthur George, lawyer, born in New York city, 6 October, 1844, was graduated at Harvard in 1864, became 1st lieutenant in the 20th Massachusetts regiment, was captured at Deep Bottom, Virginia, and confined in Libby prison during the latter part of the summer of 1864. His confinement having produced an illness which incapacitated him for further service, he entered Harvard law-school, and after graduation was admitted to the Boston bar, where he practised law for several years, during part of this time editing the "American Law Review" with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Returning to New York in 1872, he practised, and was also for some time one of the editors of the " Evening Post," and also of the "Nation," to which he constantly contributed legal, political, and critical articles. He edited the 5th edition of his father's work on "Damages" (New York, 1869), and with G. Willett Van Nest the 7th (1880). He also published, with F. S. Wait, "A Treatise on the Principles and Practice governing the Trial of Title to Land" (1882). --John, grandnephew of the first Theodore, born in New York city, 2 June, 1829, was graduated at, the University of the city of New York in 1847, and was assistant district attorney of New York in 1856-'61. Since 1 January, 1872, he has been judge of the superior court of the city of New York.