1.
Oliver Wolcott
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Oliver Wolcott, Sr. was an American politician. He was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and also the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Connecticut and he was a major general for the Connecticut Militia in the Revolutionary War serving under George Washington. Wolcott was born in Windsor, Connecticut, the youngest of fourteen children of the colonial governor Roger Wolcott and he attended Yale College, graduating in 1747 as the top scholar in his class. Upon graduation, New York governor George Clinton granted Wolcott a captain’s commission to raise a company to fight in the French. Serving as captain, Wolcott served on the northern frontier defending the Canadian border against the French until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, at the end of the war, Wolcott moved to newly settled Goshen in northwestern Connecticut to practice and study medicine with his brother, Alexander. He then moved to Litchfield and became a merchant and was appointed by his father sheriff of the newly created Litchfield County, Connecticut and he married Lorraine Collins of Guilford, Connecticut, on January 21,1755. They had five children, Oliver, Oliver, Jr. Laura, Mariann, Wolcott had two careers during the war years, one of Connecticut’s principal delegates to the Continental Congress and a militia officer. Wolcott participated in the American Revolutionary War as brigadier general and then major general in the Connecticut militia, as a representative in the Continental Congress, Wolcott was a strong advocate for independence. Early in the struggle with Great Britain, Wolcott made it clear that the colonists would not give up their rights. In February 1776, Wolcott himself stated, “Our difference with Great Britain has become very great… What matters will issue in, I cannot say, Wolcott saw extensive militia service during the American Revolution. On August 11,1776, Connecticut officials ordered him to march the Seventeenth Regiment of militia to New York, upon arriving at Washington’s camp, Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull appointed Wolcott brigadier general in command of all the state’s militia regiments in New York. Along with support to Washington, Wolcott led 300—400 volunteers from his brigade to help General Horatio Gates, in May 1779, Wolcott was promoted to major general in command of all Connecticut Militia. That summer he saw combat in protecting the coastline from Tryon’s raids and he was largely unsuccessful in his combat with Major General William Tryon. ”Apart from his role as a militia officer, he was active in congress and his home was extremely busy during the war. General George Washington at Woloctts home and bullets were manufactured for the war efforts, the Continental Congress appointed Wolcott Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and he was elected to the Congress in 1775. He became seriously ill in 1776 and did not sign the Declaration of Independence until some time later, at the beginning of the Revolution, Congress had made Wolcott a commissioner of Indian affairs to persuade the northern Indian nations to remain neutral. His qualifications for this came from his early experience on the northern front of the French. Now he was asked along with Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, beyond his post war diplomatic role, Wolcott aspired to higher office. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut as a Federalist in 1786 and he was reelected to the position, holding the office until his death at the age of seventy-one
2.
Matthew Griswold (governor)
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Matthew Griswold was the 17th Governor of Connecticut from 1784 to 1786. He also served as the first Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice of the Superior Court, Matthew Griswold was born in Lyme, Connecticut, the eldest son of John Griswold, politician and landowner, and Hannah Griswold. He was the generation of his family to live in Connecticut. They were one of the wealthiest and most respected families in Lyme, in his mid-twenties, he decided to study law. He was admitted to the New London Bar in 1742 and opened a practice in Lyme, many of his legal cases involved settling estates and collecting debts. He became a well-liked and respected teacher of the law as well and he married then Deputy Governor Roger Wolcotts daughter Ursula on November 10,1743, and had seven children with her. Their son, Roger Griswold, later also became Governor of Connecticut and his reputation as a fair and hard working lawyer won Griswold the appointment of Kings Attorney for New London County. The Kings Attorney represented the interests of England and her colonies in court and that Griswold held this position for over thirty years stands as a testimony to both his ability as a lawyer and his fair-mindedness. Griswolds busy law practice, as well as his duties as Kings Attorney, Griswold was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1748, and from 1751 to 1759. He was then elected to the Council of Assistants, serving from 1759 to 1769, Griswold and eight other Council-members demonstrated opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 when Governor Thomas Fitch was required to take an oath to support it. Griswold became a member of the Sons of Liberty, who protested the Stamp Act. In each of the years from 1769 to 1784, he was elected Deputy Governor of Connecticut, in that position, he also served as Chief Justice of the Superior Court. During this time, he was concerned about education, and was a member of a committee to improved teaching at Yale College, Yale awarded him a Doctor of Laws in 1779, in appreciation. Griswold was a supporter of the colonists cause during the American Revolution. He served on committees that oversaw troop movements, military appointments, provisions, and defense, he especially focused on defending American ships. According to family legend, Griswold twice evaded British soldiers as they searched for him, after the end of the war, Griswold was chosen to be Governor in 1784 by the General Assembly, after he failed to receive a majority of votes in the regular election. He was re-elected in 1785, but then lost to Samuel Huntington in 1786, in 1788, as delegate from Lyme, he became president of Connecticuts convention to ratify the new United States Constitution. Later in 1788, Ursula Griswold died, and Matthew Griswold retired from public life, Griswold continued to manage his family estate, Black Hall, until his death on April 28,1799
3.
Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
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The following is a list of deputy or lieutenant governors of the State of Connecticut, from the Colonial period through present day. There have been 108 Lieutenant Governors in the history of Connecticut and 88 since the founding of the United States in 1776. Parties A Connecticut Democratic Federalist Democratic-Republican National Republican Free Soil Republican Whig As of January 2017, the most recent death of a former U. S. lieutenant governor of Connecticut was that of Joseph J. Fauliso, who died on August 20,2014. Official website of incumbent Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman
4.
John Jay
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John Jay was an American statesman, Patriot, diplomat, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and first Chief Justice of the United States. Jay was born into a family of merchants and government officials in New York City. He became a lawyer and joined the New York Committee of Correspondence and he joined a conservative political faction that, fearing mob rule, sought to protect property rights and maintain the rule of law while resisting British rule. Jay served as the President of the Continental Congress, a position with little power. His major diplomatic achievement was to negotiate trade terms with Great Britain in the Jay Treaty in 1794. Jay, a proponent of strong, centralized government, worked to ratify the U. S, constitution in New York in 1788 by pseudonymously writing five of The Federalist Papers, along with the main authors Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. After the establishment of the U. S. government, Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States, as a leader of the new Federalist Party, Jay was the Governor of the State of New York, where he became the states leading opponent of slavery. His first two attempts to end slavery in New York in 1777 and 1785 failed, but a third in 1799 succeeded, the 1799 Act, a gradual emancipation he signed into law, eventually granted all slaves in New York their freedom before his death in 1829. The Jays were a prominent merchant family in New York City, in 1685 the Edict of Nantes had been revoked, thereby abolishing the rights of Protestants and confiscating their property. Among those affected was Jays paternal grandfather, Augustus Jay and he moved from France to New York, where he built a successful merchant empire. Jays father, Peter Jay, born in New York City in 1704, became a trader in furs, wheat, timber. Johns mother was Mary Van Cortlandt, who had married Peter Jay in 1728 and they had ten children together, seven of whom survived into adulthood. Marys father, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, had born in New Amsterdam in 1658. Cortlandt served on the New York Assembly, was mayor of New York City. Two of his children married into the Jay family, Jay spent his childhood in Rye. He was educated there by his mother until he was eight years old, in 1756, after three years, he would return to homeschooling in Rye under the tutelage of his mother and George Murray. In 1760, Jay attended Kings College, during this time, Jay made many influential friends, including his closest, Robert Livingston—the son of a prominent New York aristocrat and Supreme Court justice. Jay took the political stand as his father, a staunch Whig
5.
Thomas McKean
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Thomas McKean was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware and Philadelphia. During the American Revolution he was a delegate to the Continental Congress where he signed the United States Declaration of Independence, McKean served as a President of Congress. He was at times a member of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. McKean served as President of Delaware, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, McKean was born in New London Township in the Province of Pennsylvania. He was the son of William McKean and Letitia Finney and his father was a tavern-keeper in New London and both his parents were Irish-born Ulster-Scots who came to Pennsylvania as children from Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland. Mary Borden was his first wife and they married in 1763, lived at 22 The Strand in New Castle, Delaware. They had six children, Joseph, Robert, Elizabeth, Letitia, Mary, Mary Borden McKean died in 1773 and is buried at Immanuel Episcopal Church in New Castle. Sarah Armitage was McKeans second wife and they married in 1774, lived at the northeast corner of 3rd and Pine Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and had four children, Sarah, Thomas, Sophia, and Maria. They were members of the New Castle Presbyterian Church in New Castle, McKeans daughter Sarah married Spanish diplomat Carlos Martínez de Irujo, 1st Marquis of Casa Irujo, their son Carlos Martínez de Irujo y McKean, would later become Prime Minister of Spain. McKeans education began at the Reverend Francis Allisons New London Academy, at the age of sixteen he went to New Castle, Delaware to begin the study of law under his cousin, David Finney. In 1755 he was admitted to the Bar of the Lower Counties, as Delaware was then known, in 1756 he was appointed deputy Attorney General for Sussex County. From the 1762/63 session through the 1775/76 session he was a member of the General Assembly of the Lower Counties, from July 1765, he also served as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and began service as the customs collector at New Castle in 1771. In November 1765 his Court of Common Pleas became the first such court in the colonies to establish a rule all the proceedings of the court be recorded on un-stamped paper. Eighteenth century Delaware was politically divided into political factions known as the Court Party. The minority Country Party was largely Ulster-Scot, centered in New Castle County, McKean was the epitome of the Country party politician and was, as much as anyone, its leader. As such, he worked in partnership with Caesar Rodney from Kent County. At the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, McKean and Caesar Rodney represented Delaware, McKean proposed the voting procedure that the Continental Congress later adopted, that each colony, regardless of size or population, have one vote. This decision set the precedent, the Congress of the Articles of Confederation adopted the practice, McKean quickly became one of the most influential members of the Stamp Act Congress
6.
Windham, Connecticut
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Windham is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. It contains the borough of Willimantic as well as the villages of Windham Center, North Windham, Willimantic, an incorporated city since 1893, was consolidated with the town in 1983. The population was 25,268 at the 2010 census, the town of Windham was incorporated on May 12,1692. Mohican Sachem Chief Joshua willed the land to sixteen men, most of whom resided in Norwich, the land called Windham consisted of what is now the towns of Windham, Mansfield, Scotland, Chaplin, and Hampton. The town was named after Wyndham, England, on December 4,1700, Windham’s first Minister, Reverend Samuel Whiting, was ordained. The church was a Congregational Church, stemming from the Puritans, the first church building was erected shortly after on the Windham Green. Early settlers were farmers who grew such as wheat, rye, corn, barley, flax. Early industry in Windham consisted of sawmills, gristmills, and blacksmith’s shops taking advantage of the power from streams. In 1823 Windham, along with Lebanon, Columbia, Chaplin, Tolland County, the last county formed in Connecticut, had just been formed a few years earlier, taking towns away from Hartford and Windham counties. The town of Windham was no longer the center of Windham County, the courts and other government offices had been moved to Brooklyn which was more centralized and easier to travel to. All transportation was difficult due to the quality of the roads. The General Assembly denied the petition, one year later, Lebanon petitioned the General Assembly to be returned to New London County, which they had originally been part of before the creation of Windham County. The General Assembly granted their petition and that same year, Mansfield and Columbia petitioned the General Assembly to join Tolland County. The General Assembly denied both petitions, Mansfield tried again in 1826, and Columbia tried again in 1827. This time the General Assembly granted both towns their petitions, the town of Windham is made up of four parts, North Windham, Windham Center, South Windham, and Willimantic. As with many towns with abundant river water-power, mills are a large part of the history of the town. The mills sprang up around the Willimantic River in the borough of Willimantic, North and South Windham had limited industry. The populated area of the town in the period was Windham Center
7.
Scotland, Connecticut
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Scotland is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,726. Scotland is a rural town, with agriculture as the principal industry. Scotland is the least populated town in Windham County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 18.7 square miles. In 1700 Isaac Magoon purchased 1,950 acres of land from then Windham and he named the town Scotland as a way of commemorating his ancestral home. Scotland was incorporated in May 1857, the town still maintains the town meeting as its form of government with a board of selectmen. The town also has eight boards & commissions, including Inlands & Wetlands, Planning & Zoning, Scotland Elementary School is located on Brook Rd, the school severs PK-6 for the whole town. The town is part of the Connecticut Education District 11, Scotland is home to the DElia Antique Tool Museum. The museum was built in 2005 and is housed in the building as the Scotland Public Library. It is the home of over 1200 antique woodworking planes dating back to the mid-18th century, another attraction is the Samuel Huntington house which located on Huntington Rd or Route 14 Route 14 passes east–west through the town. Route 97 goes north–south through the town, the Providence and Worcester Railroad runs through the south-western part of the town, but doesnt stop. Intersects with Route 97 As of the census of 2000, there were 1,556 people,553 households, the population density was 83.6 people per square mile. There were 577 housing units at a density of 31.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 97. 69% White,0. 45% African American,0. 06% Native American,0. 51% Asian,0. 19% Pacific Islander,0. 51% from other races, and 0. 58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 31% of the population,15. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the family size was 3.16. In the town, the population was out with 28. 2% under the age of 18,5. 9% from 18 to 24,31. 7% from 25 to 44,25. 3% from 45 to 64. The median age was 37 years, for every 100 females there were 100.8 males
8.
Norwich, Connecticut
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Norwich, known as The Rose of New England, is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 40,493 at the 2010 United States Census, three rivers, the Yantic, the Shetucket, and the Quinebaug, flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long Island Sound. Norwichtown was founded in 1659, by settlers from Old Saybrook led by Major John Mason and they purchased the land nine miles square that would become Norwich from the local Native Mohegan Sachem Uncas. In 1668, a wharf was established at Yantic Cove, settlement was primarily in the three-mile area around the Norwichtown Green. The 69 founding families soon divided up the land in the Norwichtown vicinity for farms, by 1694, the public landing built at the head of the Thames River allowed ships to offload goods at the harbor, the harbor area is known as the Chelsea neighborhood. The distance between the port and Norwichtown was serviced by the East and West Roads, which later became Washington Street, the original center of the town was a neighborhood now called Norwichtown, an inland location chosen to be the center of a primarily agricultural farming community. By the latter 18th century, shipping at the harbor began to far more important than farming. By the early 19th century, the center of Norwich had effectively moved to the Chelsea neighborhood, the official buildings of the city were located in the harbor area, such as the City Hall, courts, and post office, and all the large 19th-century urban blocks. The former center is now called Norwichtown to distinguish it from the current city, Norwich merchants were shipping goods directly from England, but the Stamp Act of 1764 forced Norwich to become more self-sufficient. Soon large mills and factories sprang up at the falls on the rivers which traverse the town, the ship captains of Norwich and New London who were skillful at avoiding Imperial taxation during peacetime later were just as successful eluding warships during war. During the American Revolution Norwich supported the cause for independence by supplying soldiers, ships, Norwich was also a center for activity for the Sons of Liberty. One of the most notable figures of the Revolution, Benedict Arnold, was born in Norwich, other Colonial era noteworthies include Samuel Huntington, Christopher Leffingwell, and Daniel Lathrop. Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a center through the early part of the 19th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments and this was also spurred by the building of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad in 1832–1837 bringing goods and people both in and out of Norwich. By the 1870s the Springfield and New London Railroad was also running trains through Norwich. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 29.5 sq mi. Several Norwich neighborhoods maintain independent identities and are recognized by official signs marking their boundaries, the population density was 1,274.7 people per square mile. There were 16,600 housing units at a density of 585.9 per square mile
"Huntington, Samuel". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
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