Faith Trumbull

Faith Trumbull was born 25 January 1745, one of six children of Governor Jonathan Trumbull (1710-1785) and Faith Robinson Trumbull (1718-1780). In the summer of 1753, at the age of eight, Faith Trumbull entered Elizabeth Murray's school in Boston, where she learned, among other things, needlework. In the fall of 1754, Faith and her sister, Mary Trumbull (1745-1831), boarded with Mrs. Mary Willis in Boston while they continued to study with Elizabeth Murray. Faith's first embroidered silk chimney piece dates from 1754 (CHS 1974.99.0). In June 1761, eighteen-year-old Faith was again in Boston, this time boarding with schoolmaster John Lovell, a Loyalist. A second overmantel frame was ordered by her father from her brother, Joseph, who was in London on family business in 1764.

Faith's father, Governor Trumbull, was a prosperous businessman who, with various partners, established direct commercial connections with Great Britain instead of dealing indirectly through Boston and New York. By the 1760s, Trumbull was one of the outstanding figures of Connecticut commerce; but in 1766 came a change. For reasons not entirely clear, his business suffered a reversal and he was forced into virtual - though not legal - bankruptcy.

The year of her father's financial reversals was also the year of Faith's marriage. On 1 May 1766, she married Jedidiah Huntington of Norwich, one of the most promising men of Eastern Connecticut. They had one son, Jabez Huntington. Faith became depressed after witnessing the Battle of Bunker's Hill on 17 June 1775. She fell into a decline and died on 23 November 1775 in Dedham, Massachusetts. Faith's son, Jabez, was raised by her father.