William Ellery was a Founding Father of the United States, one of the 56 signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, and a signer of the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Rhode Island.

Ezra Stiles was an American educator, academic, Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He is noted as the seventh president of Yale College (1778–1795) and one of the founders of Brown University. According to religious historian Timothy L. Hall, Stiles' tenure at Yale distinguishes him as "one of the first great American college presidents."