I lived from 1757-1826. I was from the United States, and am in the Americas category.
Royall Tyler was born in 1757 in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Royall and Mary Steele Tyler. He had a brother, John S., and two sisters, Mary and Jane. He graduated from Harvard College in 1776 and received a degree from Yale the same year. After studying law for several years, he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1780 and began practicing law first in Portland, Maine, and then in Quincy, Massachusetts.
While in Quincy he met and became engaged to Abby Adams, the daughter of John and Abigail Adams. Their engagement ended in 1785, at which time Tyler left Quincy. In 1794 he married Mary Palmer, and together they had eleven children: Royall (1794-1813), John Steele (1796-1876), Mary Whitwell (1798-1874), Edward Royall (1800-1848), William Clark (1802-1882), Joseph Dennie (1804-1852), Amelia Sophia (1807- 1878), George Palmer (1809-1896), Charles Royall (1812-1896), Thomas Pickman (1815-1892), and Abiel Winship (1818-1832). Charles Royall changed his name to Royall after his oldest brother’s death but is referred to as Charles Royall in this guide to avoid confusion with his brother and father.
Tyler served in the militia in 1778 as a major and was again active in 1787 as an aide to General Benjamin Lincoln during Shays’ Rebellion. It was during that period that Tyler first went to Vermont, where he eventually settled.
Royall Tyler found success in two unrelated fields, law and writing. He moved his law practice to Guilford, Vermont, in 1791 and served as state’s attorney for Windham County, Vermont, 1794-1801; assistant judge of the Vermont Supreme Court, 1801- 1807; and chief justice, 1807-1813. He also taught law at the University of Vermont, 1811-1814, and wrote Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature (New York: I. Riley, 1809-1810). As playwright and author he produced the first American comedy, The Contrast, in 1787, and went on to create other works such as The Algerine Captive (1797), and The Chestnut Tree, which he wrote shortly before his death but which was not published until 1931.
Tyler died August 26, 1826, in Brattleboro, Vermont
Royall Tyler’s wife, Mary, was born in 1775 and died in 1866. In 1811 she wrote The Maternal Physician, published by Isaac Riley, and in her later years wrote an autobiographical account of her life. That work was passed down through the family and was finally edited and published in 1925.
Four of the Tylers’ sons, Edward, Joseph, George, and Thomas, became ministers; John and William were merchants in Boston; Mary and Amelia worked with children; Charles Royall pursued a legal career; and two of the children, Royall and Abiel, died in their teens. Charles Royall and Thomas served as family historians and accumulated genealogical information and research on their father and other ancestors that was passed on to Charles Royall’s granddaughter, Helen Brown.
While in Quincy he met and became engaged to Abby Adams, the daughter of John and Abigail Adams. Their engagement ended in 1785, at which time Tyler left Quincy. In 1794 he married Mary Palmer, and together they had eleven children: Royall (1794-1813), John Steele (1796-1876), Mary Whitwell (1798-1874), Edward Royall (1800-1848), William Clark (1802-1882), Joseph Dennie (1804-1852), Amelia Sophia (1807- 1878), George Palmer (1809-1896), Charles Royall (1812-1896), Thomas Pickman (1815-1892), and Abiel Winship (1818-1832). Charles Royall changed his name to Royall after his oldest brother’s death but is referred to as Charles Royall in this guide to avoid confusion with his brother and father.
Tyler served in the militia in 1778 as a major and was again active in 1787 as an aide to General Benjamin Lincoln during Shays’ Rebellion. It was during that period that Tyler first went to Vermont, where he eventually settled.
Royall Tyler found success in two unrelated fields, law and writing. He moved his law practice to Guilford, Vermont, in 1791 and served as state’s attorney for Windham County, Vermont, 1794-1801; assistant judge of the Vermont Supreme Court, 1801- 1807; and chief justice, 1807-1813. He also taught law at the University of Vermont, 1811-1814, and wrote Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature (New York: I. Riley, 1809-1810). As playwright and author he produced the first American comedy, The Contrast, in 1787, and went on to create other works such as The Algerine Captive (1797), and The Chestnut Tree, which he wrote shortly before his death but which was not published until 1931.
Tyler died August 26, 1826, in Brattleboro, Vermont
Royall Tyler’s wife, Mary, was born in 1775 and died in 1866. In 1811 she wrote The Maternal Physician, published by Isaac Riley, and in her later years wrote an autobiographical account of her life. That work was passed down through the family and was finally edited and published in 1925.
Four of the Tylers’ sons, Edward, Joseph, George, and Thomas, became ministers; John and William were merchants in Boston; Mary and Amelia worked with children; Charles Royall pursued a legal career; and two of the children, Royall and Abiel, died in their teens. Charles Royall and Thomas served as family historians and accumulated genealogical information and research on their father and other ancestors that was passed on to Charles Royall’s granddaughter, Helen Brown.
Links of interest include http://www.vermonthistory.org/arccat/findaid/tyler.htm#bio
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