Theodore Sedgwick - Mum Bett

Legal scholar, born in Albany, New York, USA. He practised law for several years (1934–50) and served as US district attorney for the Southern District of New York (1858–9). He wrote extensively for the popular press as well as Thoughts on the Annexation of Texas (1844) and Statutory and Constitutional Law (1857).

Theodore Sedgwick (May 9, 1746-January 24, 1813), a Delegate, a Representative, and a Senator from Massachusetts and the fifth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was born in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Sedgwick married, April 17, 1774 (his second), Pamela Dwight, born June 26, 1753, died September 20, 1807, daughter of Brigadier General Joseph Dwight of Great Barrington and his second wife, Abigail Williams (Sargent) Dwight.

A Federalist, Sedgwick's political career began in 1780 and lasted until he became a judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts in 1802, a position he held until his death in Boston, Massachusetts in 1813.

Mum Bett

As a lawyer, he pled the case for Elizabeth Freeman (called Mumbet) a negro slave who had fled from her master on account of cruel treatment. The court ruled that she was free, thus making this case the earliest application of the declaration of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights that "all men are born free and equal." Mumbet was so grateful that she became a member of the Sedgwick household for life and is buried in the family plot - her grave is marked by a monument beside the grave of his daughter Catharine Maria Sedgwick, the first noted female writer in the United States.