James Lanman

James Lanman and his wife counterclaimed unsuccessfully for compensation for the ownership of enslaved people on Galls Retreat estate in Barbados very likely as the heirs of Elizabeth Gall.

1. "LANMAN, James, lawyer, b. in Norwich, Conn., 13 June 1769; d. there, 7 Aug. 1841. He was graduated at Yate in 1788, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1791, and began practice in his native town. He was state's attorney for New London county from 1814 till 1819, a member of the lower branch of the legislature in 1817 and again in 1832, a delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution for Connecticut in 1818, and was elected to the state senate in 1819. Mr. Lanman was subsequently elected to the U.S. senate as a Democrat, serving from 6 Dec., 1819, till 3 March, 1825. From 1826 till 1829 he was judge of the supreme and superior courts of Connecticut, and for several years was mayor of Norwich. His second wife was the mother of Park Benjamin, the author."

1. Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889 (1888) vol. III p. 613.

We are grateful to David O'Carroll for his assistance with compiling this entry.