This chart depicts family relationships which were vital to the persons appearing on the
chart. At less exalted levels of society, one is supposed to be praised or blamed only
according to one's own actions. But in these Yale circles, ``family''--genealogy--is an
overwhelming consideration when evaluating individuals. Thus what we present here is
more than simply a system of associations. It is a tradition which has operated powerfully
on the emotions and judgment of the leaders of Yale University; they have merged their
own identities into this tradition.
Lines are directed downwards from parents to their children. A double hyphen--signifies
the marriage of the persons on either side.
GUIDE TO THE YALE FAMILY CHART
Rev. Nodiah Russell: One of 10 or 12 men who founded Yale University in 1701. Yale
Trustee 1701-13. Pastor, First Congregational Church, Middletown, Ct. ca. 1691-1716.
Rev. James Pierpont: Most celebrated of the Yale founders. Yale Trustee, 1701-14.
William Russell: Yale Trustee 1745-61. Pastor, First Congregational Church,
Middletown, Ct. 1716-61.
Jonathan Edwards: Graduated Yale 1720. Ultra-Calvinist theologian, president of
Princeton University (called then ``College of New Jersey'').
Rev. Nodiah Russell: Graduated Yale 1750.
Pierpont Edwards (1750-1826): Made Master of Connecticut Masons by the British
Army occupying New York in 1783; he administered the estate of the traitor Benedict
Arnold.
Aaron Burr, Sr.: Graduated yale 1735. President of Princeton University (``College of
New Jersey'').
Matthew Talcott Russell: Graduated Yale 1769. Deacon of First Congregational
Church, Middletown, Ct. for 30 years. Lawyer for the Middletown Russell family. Died
ca. 1817.
Captain John Russell. Died 1801 or 1802.
Henry W. Edwards: Governor of Connecticut 1833, 1835-38. Protector of Samuel
Russell's opium-financed enterprises, patron of William Huntington Russell's new secret
society, Skull and Bones.