Theophilus Parsons (professor)

Theophilus Parsons (1797–1882) was Dane Professor of Law at Harvard from 1848 to 1870.

Theophilus Parsons
Born	1797
Died	1882 (1883) (aged 85)
Education	Harvard College (1815)
Children	Emily Elizabeth Parsons
Father	Theophilus Parsons
Dane Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
In office 1848–1870
Succeeded by	Christopher Columbus Langdell

Portrait of Theophilus Parsons, by August Edouart, ca.1842

Parsons is remembered chiefly as the author of a series of useful legal treatises and some books in support of Swedenborgian doctrines.^[1] In 1824, he took a position as editor of the new United States Literary Gazette.^[2] He wrote a biography of his father, an American jurist who was also named Theophilus Parsons (1749–1813). It was published in Boston in 1859.^[3] He also edited and published the Civil War letters of his daughter, Emily Elizabeth Parsons, a nurse and administrator of Benton Barracks military hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.^[4]

He graduated from Harvard College in 1815.^[5]

Works

• "Distinguished Lawyers," Albany Law Journal Aug. 20, 1870, pp 126-7 online.
• A treatise on the law of partnership (1866) online
• Outlines of the religion and philosophy of Swedenborg (1876) online
• A treatise on maritime law (1859) online
• Address Commemorative of Rufus Choate (1859)