A member of the Middlebury Class of 1808, Cephas Leland Rockwood (1786-1844) was born in Bellingham, MA to John and Eunice Smith Rockwood.  After John Rockwood’s death in 1786, while Cephas was an infant, Eunice married Rev. Aaron Leland of Chester, Vermont.  Leland, a Baptist minister and prominent Vermont politician, adopted Cephas Rockwood, and encouraged him to study at Middlebury College.  After College, Cephas studied law in Middlebury with Joel Doolittle, and at the urging of his father, returned to Chester, where he opened a law practice.  He married Louisa Foote on October 10, 1816, in Canton, New York, founded by her family after they left Middlebury in 1800.  Rockwood practiced law in Vermont, New York and Wisconsin.  Among his Middlebury friends and associates, Rockwood could count Joel Doolittle, Emma Willard, and William Slade.  Rockwood died in Wisconsin sometime prior to 1847.

Letter from Cephas L. Rockwood to Lovisa Rockwood, Middlebury, January 22, 1810.