David Humphreys

Born in Derby, Connecticut, David Humphreys was the son of a clergyman; he graduated from Yale (B.A. 1771, M.A. 1774) where he was associated with John Trumbull and the Connecticut Wits. He afterwards served as lieutenant colonel in the American army and as an aide-de-camp to George Washington. Humphreys spent much of his later career serving as a diplomat before settling in Boston in 1802, where he bred merino sheep and published a dissertation on the subject.

TEXT RECORDS:

1785 ca.An Epithalamium.

PUBLICATIONS:

A poem on the happiness of America. 1780.
A poem addressed to the armies of the United States of America. 1780.
The glory of America, or peace triumphant over war. 1783.
Select poems. 1787.
An essay on the life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam. 1788.
Poems. 1789.
Miscellaneous works. 1790.
A poem on industry. Addressed to the citizens of the United States of America. 1794.
Considerations on the means of improving the military for public defence. 1803.
Miscellaneous works. 1804.
A discourse on the agriculture of the state of Connecticut. 1816.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

American
Congregationalist
Presbyterian

Yale College
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts

schoolmaster
military
diplomat
poet
dramatist

Connecticut Courant

Joel Barlow
Rev. Timothy Dwight
Lemuel Hopkins
John Trumbull

REFERENCE:

DAB; DLB.

"Anecdotes of Colonel Humphreys" Monthly Magazine and American Review [New York] 2 (June 1800) 472-75; "Biographical Outline of Colonel David Humphreys" The Polyanthus [Boston] 4 (February 1807) 145-52 [portrait]; obituary in American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review [New York] 2 (March 1818) 388-89; Samuel Kettell, Specimens of American Poetry (1829); Rufus W. Griswold, in Poets and Poetry of America (1842); George and Evert Duyckinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature (1856) [portrait]; Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Frank L. Humphreys, Life and Times of David Humphreys (1917); Leon Howard, in The Connecticut Wits (1943); William K. Bottorff, ed. Miscellaneous Works of David Humphreys (1968); Edward M. Cifelli, David Humphreys (1982).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for David Humphreys:

1.	1790  A Lady, "Written on a blank Leaf of Col. Humphrey's Poems" New York Magazine and Literary Repository 1 (October 1790) 604.
2.	1802  William O'Moore, "Farewell addressed to the honorable David Humphries, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States" 1802; Literary Tablet [Hanover NH] 2 (24 July 1805) 92.
3.	1857  Samuel Griswold Goodrich, in Recollections of a Lifetime (1857) 2:115-16n.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for David Humphreys:

1.	1798  H., "Anecdotes of Colonel Humphreys" 1798; Monthly Magazine and American Review [New York] 2 (June 1800) 472-75.
2.	1829  Samuel Kettell, in Specimens of American Poetry (1829) 1:259-61.
3.	1842  Rufus Wilmot Griswold, in Poets and Poetry of America (1842) 22.
4.	1856  George and Evert Duyckinck, in Cyclopedia of American Literature (1856; 1875) 1:387-90.
5.	1858  Samuel Austin Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71) 1:919.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1784  Rev. Timothy Dwight:   David Humphreys, "An Epistle to Dr. Dwight. On board the Courier de l'Europe, July 30, 1784" Humphreys, Miscellaneous Works (1804) 211-15.