Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Hosmer, Titus

HOSMER, Titus, statesman, b. in Watertown, Conn., in 1736; d. there, 4 Aug., 1780. His grandfather, Col. Thomas Titus, of Hawkhurst, England, an officer in Cromwell's army, came to Boston on the accession of Charles II., and afterward settled in Middletown. Titus was graduated at Yale in 1757, practised law, was a member of the council and of the assembly of 1773-'8, speaker in 1777, served in the Continental congress of 1778-'9, and in 1780 became a judge of the maritime court of appeals of the United States. He was the patron of Joel Barlow, who wrote a much-admired elegy on his death. — His son, Stephen Titus, jurist, b. in Middletown, Conn., in 1763; d. there, 5 Aug., 1834, was graduated at Yale in 1782, and settled in the practice of law at Middletown in 1785. For two years and a half he was a member of the council of state, and after the adoption of the state constitution was chief justice of Connecticut from 1815 till 1833. — Titus's brother, Timothy, surgeon, b. in Middletown, Conn., in 1740; d. in Canandaigua, N. Y., in 1820, was an officer in the Continental army, served throughout the war, and for two years and a half was surgeon on Washington's staff. He removed to Ontario county, N. Y., where his was one of the first two settlements in the wilderness. In 1798 he was appointed first judge of the county. — Timothy's son, George, lawyer, b. in Farmington, Conn., 30 Aug., 1781; d. in Chicago, Ill., 6 March, 1861, received a classical education, studied law, and, after practising a year in Canandaigua, removed to Avon, N. Y. During the war of 1812 he served on the western frontier. He was elected district attorney of Livingston county in 1820, and a member of the legislature in 1823-'5, declined a renomination, and resumed practice. — George's son, William Henry Cuyler, poet, b. in Avon, N. Y., 25 May, 1814; d. there, 23 May, 1877, was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1841, studied law, and became a master in chancery at Avon, and in 1854 was appointed clerk in the New York city custom-house. He was a student of Indian character and lore, and travelled extensively among the tribes of Florida and Wisconsin. His mother was an accomplished woman, and spoke several Indian dialects. His publications are “The Fall of Tecumseh,” a drama (Avon, 1830); “The Themes of Song” (Rochester, 1834); “The Pioneers of Western New York” (Boston, 1838); “The Months” (1847); “Yonnondio, or the Warriors of Genesee” (New York, 1844); “Bird-Notes” (1850); “Indian Traditions and Songs” (1850); “Legend of the Senecas” (1850); and “Poetical Works,” a collection of the preceding (2 vols., 1854).