 In 1851, at the age of 21, Trumbull had a religious conversion experience and found employment as a clerk in Hartford, Connecticut with the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad.In 1852, Trumbull joined the Congregationalist church and, while continuing to work for the railroad, became the superintendent of a mission Sunday-school under the Connecticut State Sunday School Association.In 1854, he married Alice Cogswell Gallaudet, the daughter of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the founder of the American School for the Deaf.