Henry Collins Flagg Jr. (January 5, 1792 – March 8, 1863) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and politician. He was the grandfather of Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt.
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Early life
Flagg was born in the parish of St. Thomas, near Charleston, South Carolina on January 5, 1792. His parents were Henry Collins Flagg (1742–1801) and Rachel (née Moore) Flagg (1757–1839). Flagg's father, whose exact name he bore, served through the American Revolutionary War and was a wealthy shipping merchant from Newport, Rhode Island. Flagg himself was the younger half-brother of painter Washington Allston (1779–1843), from his mother's previous marriage to Captain William Allston, who died in 1781, shortly after the Battle of Cowpens.
Some of his early studies were pursued in Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated from Yale College in 1811.
Career
After leaving college he returned to South Carolina, and remained there for some years. He returned to New Haven, Connecticut and studied law with S.P. Staples, Esq., and began to engage in the practice of law. He took an active part in the political movements opposed to the Federalist Party in Connecticut, both as a public speaker and as an editor of the Connecticut Herald, which he had purchased. He was Clerk of the New Haven County Court.