Maria Trumbull

Maria Trumbull was born February 14, 1785,^[1] and baptized in Lebanon, Connecticut on February 20, 1785.^[2] She was the daughter of Governor Jonathan Trumbull Jr. (1740–1809) and Eunice Backus,^[1][3] who made a pious and wealthy family.^[3] Her father, the son of fellow Governor Jonathan Trumbull (1710–1785), was a merchant and a politician.^[3] Her family, although wealthy, lived a simple, magnanimous life in Lebanon, Connecticut.^[3]

She had two sisters, Faith and Harriet (later wife of Benjamin Silliman), and two brothers who died when infants.^[1] Trumbull and her sister Harriet spent the winter of 1800 and spring of 1801 in New York City where they came out to New York society.^[4] The teenage girls stayed at the home of Lady Kitty Duer. Friends of their parents planned for lessons and social activities for the girls.^[5] They had music, dancing, and drawing lessons. Their letters to their parents provided insight into their lives of lessons, parties, plays, and more. The letters were published in the book A season in New York, 1801.^[4] The book provides insight into the inner thoughts of 19th-century girls as they experienced life in a big city.^[5]

In 1804, Trumbull married Henry Hudson of Hartford, Connecticut,^[1][6] son of Hannah Bunce Watson (newspaper publisher) and Barzillai Hudson (newspaper editor),^[7] They had a son, Jonathan Trumbull Hudson.^[8] She died of complications of childbirth^[6] at on November 23, 1805^[1][3] and was buried at the Center Church Burial Ground in Hartford, Connecticut.^[9] A poet wrote of her:

Light as the gossamer, with fairy feet,

Maria moves, with graciousness replete,
Artfulness as truth it seems – and oath bestows,

The modest smile that softens as she goes.^[9]

Henry Hudson was the mayor of Hartford, Connecticut from 1836 to 1840.^[7][10]