{{Short description|American politician (1779–1847)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder |birth_name = Henry Waggaman Edwards |name = Henry W. Edwards |image = HenryEdwards (3x4a).jpg |order = 27th & 29th |office = Governor of Connecticut |term_start = May 1, 1833 |term_end = May 7, 1834 |lieutenant = Ebenezer Stoddard |predecessor = John S. Peters |successor = Samuel A. Foot |order2 = |term_start2 = May 6, 1835 |term_end2 = May 2, 1838 |lieutenant2 = Ebenezer Stoddard |predecessor2= Samuel A. Foot |successor2 = William W. Ellsworth |order3 =United States Senator <br/> from Connecticut |term_start3 = October 8, 1823 |term_end3 = March 3, 1827 |predecessor3= Elijah Boardman |successor3 = Samuel A. Foot |district4 =at-large |state4 =Connecticut |term_start4 = March 4, 1819 |term_end4 = October 8, 1823 |preceded4 = Sylvester Gilbert |succeeded4 = Noyes Barber |office5 = Member of the Connecticut Senate |term5 = 1828-1829 |birth_date = {{birth date text|October 1779}} |birth_place = New Haven, Connecticut |death_date = {{death date and age|1847|7|22|1779|10|1}} |death_place = New Haven, Connecticut |party = Democratic |spouse = Lydia Miller |children = |alma_mater = Princeton, Litchfield Law School |profession = lawyer, politician |resting_place = Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut }}

'''Henry Waggaman Edwards''' (October 1779{{spaced ndash}}July 22, 1847) was an American lawyer, a Democrat, and the 27th and 29th governor of the U.S. state of Connecticut (1833–1834, 1835–1838). He previously served in both the U.S. Senate (1823 to 1827) and the U.S. House of Representatives (1819 to 1823). He had a cousin to Aaron Burr (1756–1836), the third vice president of the United States.

==Biography== Edwards was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Judge Pierpont Edwards and Frances Ogden. He graduated from Princeton University in 1797, and earned a law degree from the Litchfield Law School. He married Lydia Miller on October 4, 1801,<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry W. Edwards|url=http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/865|publisher=Litchfield Historical Society|access-date=November 29, 2012}}</ref> and they had seven children.

==Career== Edwards became a lawyer, was active in Democratic politics, and was the United States representative from Connecticut at-large from 1819 to 1823.

=== U.S. Senator === He was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Elijah Boardman as a United States Senator and served from Connecticut from 1823 to 1827.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry W. Edwards|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=E000070|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=November 29, 2012}}</ref>

=== Other offices === He served as a member of Connecticut Senate at-large from 1828 to 1829. member of Connecticut state house of representatives from New Haven, in 1830, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1830.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry W. Edwards|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/edwards4.html#127.62.71|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=November 29, 2012}}</ref> He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut in 1832, but was deprived of the office by a divided Assembly.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry W. Edwards|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_edwards_henry.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=November 29, 2012}}</ref>

=== Governor === Elected in 1833, Edwards served as Governor of Connecticut from May 1, 1833, to May 7, 1834. Unsuccessful in his bid for the office in 1834, he was returned to office in 1835 and re-elected two more times, serving again from May 6, 1835, to May 2, 1838. During his tenure, a discriminatory education law was enacted, the railroad expanded, and the state funded a geological survey in 1835.

=== Later years === When he did not win the Democratic party's nomination in 1838, he retired from public service.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry W. Edwards|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_edwards_henry.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=November 29, 2012}}</ref>

==Death== Edwards died on July 22, 1847, in New Haven, Connecticut, and is interred at Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnUFAAAAQAAJ&dq=henry+waggaman+edwards++1847&pg=RA2-PA355 | title=The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge, for the Year 1847 | year=1846 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== *{{Find a Grave|7778029}} {{CongBio|E000070}} *[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/edwards4.html#127.62.71 The Political Graveyard] *[http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_edwards_henry.html National Governors Association] *[http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/865 Litchfield Historical Society]

{{S-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Calvin Willey}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Governor of Connecticut|years=1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837}} {{s-aft|after=Seth P. Beers}} {{S-par|us-hs}} {{S-bef|before= Sylvester Gilbert}} {{S-ttl|title=U.S. Representative from Connecticut<br>(at large) |years= March 4, 1819{{spaced ndash}}October 8, 1823}} {{S-aft|after= Noyes Barber}} {{S-par|us-sen}} {{S-bef|before= Elijah Boardman}} {{S-ttl|title=U.S. Senator from Connecticut<br>(class 1) |years= October 8, 1823 – March 3, 1827}} {{S-aft|after= Samuel A. Foot}} {{S-off}} {{S-bef|before= John S. Peters}} {{S-ttl|title=Governor of Connecticut |years= 1833&ndash;1834}} {{S-aft|after= Samuel A. Foot}} {{S-bef|before= Samuel A. Foot}} {{S-ttl|title=Governor of Connecticut |years= 1835&ndash;1838}} {{S-aft|after= William W. Ellsworth}} {{s-end}}

{{USSenCT}} {{Governors of Connecticut}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Henry W.}} Category:1779 births Category:1847 deaths Category:People from New Haven, Connecticut Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from Connecticut Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Connecticut Category:Jacksonian United States senators from Connecticut Category:Connecticut Jacksonians Category:Democratic Party governors of Connecticut Category:Jacksonian state governors of the United States Category:Speakers of the Connecticut House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party Connecticut state senators Category:Burials at Grove Street Cemetery Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century United States senators Category:19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly Category:Connecticut lawyers Category:American people of English descent