Timothy Dwight was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the influential minister and thinker. Dwight entered Yale College at age thirteen and graduated with honors at seventeen. In 1777, he was named chaplain of the Connecticut Continental Brigade, where he served for a year before returning to Northampton upon the death of his father. In Northampton, Dwight founded a coeducational academy (1779) and served in the Massachusetts Legislature (1781-82).
In 1783, he moved back to Connecticut where he established another school. For the next twelve years he ran the school and published a number of articles in Connecticut newspapers, joining a select group of writers collectively known as the “Connecticut Wits.” He published the first epic poem produced in America, “The Conquest of Canaan,” in 1785.
Upon the death of Yale College President Ezra Stiles in 1795, Dwight assumed the position and served for twenty-two years. His stern moral pronouncements on contemporary affairs were influential. Dwight traveled extensively throughout the Northeast, and his observations were published posthumously in 1823 as “Travels in New England and New York.” This work constitutes one of the most exemplary efforts on early travel literature.