Jonathan Brace

Brace was born in Harwinton in the Connecticut Colony, the son of Jonathan Brace and Mary (Messenger) Brace.{{cite web|url= http://records.ancestry.com/Jonathan_Brace_records.ashx?pid=11735716|title = Jonathan Brace (1754 - 1837)

|publisher= Ancestry.com|accessdate =January 9, 2013}} He attended the common schools and graduated from Yale College in 1779. He studied law under Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, future Chief Justice of the United States.{{cite web|url= http://www.cslib.org/memorials/bracejo.htm|title = Jonathan Brace|publisher= Connecticut State Library|accessdate =January 9, 2013}} Brace was admitted to the bar in Bennington, Vermont, in 1779, and began the practice of law in Pawlet, Vermont.

Brace moved to Manchester, Vermont, in 1782 and continued practicing law. He was a member of the council of censors to revise the constitution as well as a prosecuting attorney for Bennington County from 1784 to 1785.{{cite web|url= http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/VERMONT/2000-02/0949685811|title = VERMONT-L Archives

|publisher= Ancestry.com|accessdate =January 9, 2013}}{{cite book|last=Vermont|title=Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont: Record of the Governor and Council, 1782-1791|year=1875|publisher=J. & J. M. Poland|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_T506AQAAMAAJ/page/n354 345]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_T506AQAAMAAJ }} He then moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut, in January 1786 but was not admitted to the Connecticut bar until 1790.

Brace was a member of the Connecticut General Assembly in 1788 and from 1791 to 1794.{{cite web|url= http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/boyles-bradburn.html#152.06.17|title = Brace, Jonathan (1754-1837)|publisher= The Political Graveyard|accessdate =January 9, 2013}} He was chosen assistant in the council in May 1798. Brace moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1794 and was a judge of the city court from 1797 until 1815, with the exception of two years.{{cite web|url= http://www.cslib.org/memorials/bracejo.htm|title = Jonathan Brace|publisher= Connecticut State Library|accessdate =January 9, 2013}} He was elected as a Federalist candidate to the Fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Joshua Coit, and was reelected to the Sixth Congress. He served in Congress from December 3, 1798, until his resignation in May 1800.{{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jonathan_brace/401691|title = Rep. Jonathan Brace|publisher= Govtrack.us|accessdate =January 9, 2013}} He also served as a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors in 1798 and 1799.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLtLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR7|title=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Errors, of the State of Connecticut, in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807|year=1809|volume=2|last=Day|first=Thomas|page=xii-xiii}}

He served as an assistant in the council of the State from 1802 to 1818. Brace was appointed prosecuting attorney for Hartford County in December 1807 and served until May 1809, when he resigned. He was appointed judge of the county court and of probate in May 1809 and continued as judge of the county court until 1821 and as judge of probate until 1824.

He was the mayor of Hartford from 1815 to 1824,{{cite book|last=Trumbull|first=James Hammond|title=The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1|year=1896|publisher=E. L. Osgood|pages=385|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B18EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA385 }} and was also a member of the state senate in 1819 and 1820.{{cite web|url= http://www.infoplease.com/biography/us/congress/brace-jonathan.html|title =Jonathan Brace|publisher= Infoplease|accessdate =January 9, 2013}} He died in Hartford on August 26, 1837, and was buried in the Old North Cemetery in Hartford.{{cite web|url= http://www.hale-collection.com/608-1-old-cemetery.htm|title =Old Cemetery Records Town of HarwintonLitchfield County, Connecticut

|publisher= New Horizons Genealogy|accessdate =January 9, 2013}}

Brace was married to Ann White Brace. Their son Thomas Kimberly Brace was the principal founder and developer of the Aetna Insurance Company.{{cite web|url= http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/389|title = Thomas Kimberly Brace

|publisher= Litchfield Historical Societu|accessdate =January 9, 2013}}

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==External links==

• [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000731 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: BRACE, Jonathan, (1754 - 1837)]
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/boyles-bradburn.html#152.06.17 The Political Graveyard: Brace, Jonathan (1754-1837)]
• {{Find a Grave|20235}}

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{{US House succession box

| state=Connecticut

| district=AL

| before=Joshua Coit

| after=John Cotton Smith

| years=1798–1800

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Category:1754 births

Category:1837 deaths

Category:Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818)

Category:Yale College alumni

Category:Connecticut Land Company

Category:Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut

Category:People from Harwinton, Connecticut

Category:Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court

Category:19th-century mayors of places in Connecticut

Category:Mayors of Hartford, Connecticut

Category:18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives