David Priestly Hall and David Prescott Hall papers (RLC.Ms.005)

Biographical note

David Priestly Hall (1798-1868) was born on July 15, 1798, in Pomfret, Connecticut. He was one of eleven children of Bathsheba Mumford (1757-1823) from Newport, Rhode Island, and Dr. Jonathan Hall (1754-1817). He entered Harvard in 1816, graduated with the class of 1820, and went on to study law. David Priestly Hall began practicing law in New York City in 1824, and eventually established a law practice with his brother, John Prescott Hall (1796-1862), located at 1 Nassau Street in New York. In April 1832, he married Caroline Minturn (1806-1864) and the couple had six children: John Mumford (1822-1840), Rowland Minturn (1834-1906), Caroline Minturn (1838-1857), Elizabeth Prescott (1841-1893), Frances Minturn (1843-1921), and David Prescott (1845-1907). Hall and his family often spent their summers amongst extended family in Newport. David Priestly Hall died on November 22, 1868.

David Prescott Hall (1845-1907), the youngest son of David Priestly Hall, was born on November 15, 1845 in New York. He received all of his early education at home by studying Latin, Greek, mathematics, history, and English literature under the tutelage of his father. At the age of sixteen, he entered his father’s law office, J. P. and D. P. Hall, and began studying the law. He entered the New York bar in 1868 and later formed a practice with his brother, Rowland Minturn Hall (1834-1906), R.M. and D. P. Hall. On November 15, 1871, he married Florence Marion Howe (1845-1922), the daughter of Dr. Samuel Gridley (1801-1876) and Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910). The couple met while Hall was in Newport and had four children: Samuel Prescott (b. 1872), Caroline Minturn (b. 1874), Henry Marion (b. 1877), and John (b. 1881). In 1893, David Prescott Hall moved to Planfield, New Jersey, where he was an active leader in the community. He died at his home in Planfield on June 5, 1907.