Tapping Reeve  |
Tapping Reeve was born in 1744 on Long Island in New York. He moved to Litchfield in the 1770's. He built his house on South Street in Litchfield in 1773. He began to train young men to become lawyers in his house. This was the first law school to be established in the United States. Before this law school, young men were trained one at a time to become lawyers by another lawyer or judge. In 1784, he built a separate building for the law school next to his house. He became a judge in 1798. Judge Reeve had an associate, or partner, named Judge Gould. People traveled from all over the country to learn from Judge Reeve and Judge Gould how to become lawyers. Many of the young men attending the law school married young ladies who attended the Litchfield Female Academy on North Street in Litchfield. Two of their students, Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun, would later become Vice President of the United States. George Catlin was another student who later became a famous artist. Tapping Reeve died in 1823. He is buried in the East Burying Ground between his first wife, Sally Burr Reeve (Aaron Burr's sister) and his second wife, Betsey Thomson Reeve.
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