Saturday, December 23, 2017

Founding Fathers of the United States

Because the US celebrates the Fourth of July each year as a federal holiday, it’s easy to think that the founding of the US was a single event. Earlier this year I posted in my blog a list of the signers of the Declaration of Independence on that date in 1776 who were from my home state of Connecticut and how each of these men were related to me (*1). I also included in this list those individuals from Connecticut who signed the Articles of Confederation (1781) or the Constitution (1789).

But the founding of the US was a much longer process than even these three documents and this range of dates indicates. The first meeting of delegates of the several colonies to act collectively was in 1754 and was known as the Albany Congress (*2). Representatives of seven of the colonies met for four weeks in Albany, NY to discuss better relations with the American Indian tribes and common defensive measures against the French threat from Canada. This was the first time that American colonists had met together.

It wasn’t until eleven years later that another such meeting of representatives from the various colonies was held. This meeting was held in 1765 in New York City and was known as the “Stamp Act Congress” (*3). This meeting was to devise a unified protest against the Stamp Act which had been recently passed by the British Parliament.

Nine years later, in response to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774. These were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance. In response to this, the colonies met together yet again in what was known as the First Continental Congress (*4). There they organized an economic boycott of Great Britain and petitioned the king for a redress of grievances in a paper known as the Continental Association.

The Revolutionary War began the following year (1775) when the British attempted to disarm the Massachusetts militia at Concord and Lexington. The Second Continental Congress began meeting a few months later. They established the Continental Army in June of 1775, coordinated the war effort and issued the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776. The Revolutionary War would drag on for several more years, not ending until the surrender of the British at Yorktown in 1781. Meanwhile, the Continental Congress continued meeting and coordinating the war effort.

In addition, this Congress designed a new government and ratified their work with the publication of the Articles of Confederation in 1781. This gave the Congress a new name, the Congress of the Confederation, which met from 1781 to 1789, guiding the United States through the final part of the war and the first several years of peacetime. However, under the Articles, Congress had little power to compel the individual states to comply with its decisions and delegates often declined to serve. It was not until this Congress drafted the United States Constitution in 1789 that our current form of government was established.

Thus, from the initial meeting of representatives in 1754, it was 35 years until the Constitution was ratified in 1789. While we often remember some of the men involved during this span of time such as George Washington, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, they were only a few of the more than 400 individuals who were involved in this process. Some of the men who represented their colonies in the earlier years had passed away by the end of the process. But the collective wisdom of all of them help guide and shape this country.

In this posting, I’d like to focus on those 32 men who represented my home state of Connecticut in these various efforts and to document my relationship to each of them. This promises to be a long posting and a lot of research, but I’m hoping to learn as much from it as my readers. (Note that many of these individuals are related to one another, especially to the Wolcott family.)

References:



Connecticut Representatives to the Albany Congress

William Pitkin (1694-1769)
William’s great-aunt, Martha Pitkin, married Simon Wolcott, so he is the 2nd cousin of Oliver Wolcott (see next entry).

Oliver Wolcott (1726-1797) – signed Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation
            See *1 for his relationship to me

Elisha Williams (1694-1755)
Elisha is the uncle of William Williams (see below) who was a representative to the Continental Congress. See *1 for the relationship of William Williams to me.


Connecticut Representatives to the Stamp Act Congress

Eliphalet Dyer (1721-1807) – signed Continental Association
Eliphalet is the father-in-law of Joseph Trumbull (see below) who was a delegate to the Continental Congress. See *1 for the relationship between the Trumbull family, William Williams, and myself.

William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819) – signed Constitution
            See *1 for his relationship to me

David Rowland (1719-1794) – signed Continental Association
David’s mother’s last name was Andrews and his great*2 grandfather was Francis Andrus who is my great*9 grandfather and who emigrated in the early 1600s. This makes David my 3rd cousin, 7 times removed.


Connecticut Representatives to the Continental Congress

Andrew Adams (1736-1797) – signed Articles of Confederation
            See *1 for his relationship to me

Joseph Platt Cooke (1730-1816)
Joseph’s great*2 grandfather was Richard Platt (b. 1603) who is also a great*8 grandfather of my wife, making Joseph a 3rd cousin, 7 times removed of my wife.

Silas Deane (1738-1789) – signed Continental Association
            Silas is my 4th cousin, 8 times removed.

Eliphalet Dyer – see above

Pierpont Edwards (1750-1826)
Son of Calvinist preacher, Jonathan Edwards, and grandson of Rev. James Pierpont, he is my first cousin, 6 times removed.

Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807)
Oliver’s wife was Abigail Wolcott, a cousin (once removed) of Oliver Wolcott. See *1 for the relationship of Oliver Wolcott to me.

Titus Hosner (1736-1780) – signed Articles of Confederation
            See *1 for his relationship to me

Benjamin Huntington (1736-1800)
Benjamin’s father-in-law’s first wife was Elizabeth Edwards. She was a sister of Jonathan Edwards and a sister-in-law of Sarah Pierpont, my great*7 aunt.

Samuel Huntington (1731-1796) – signed Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation
            See *1 for his relationship to me

William Samuel Johnson – see above

Richard Law (1733-1806)
Richard’s son married Lucretia Wolcott, a niece of Oliver Wolcott (above). See *1 for Oliver Wolcott’s relationship to me.  

Stephen Mix Mitchell (1743-1835)
Stephen’s granddaughter, Marie Chester, married Lewis Strong (related to Jedediah Strong below), the 5th cousin, 3 times removed, of my uncle Robert Hill.

Jesse Root (1736-1822)
Jesse is a cousin of Jedediah Strong and a 5th cousin, 4 times removed, of my uncle Robert Hill.

Roger Sherman (1721-1793) – signed Continental Association, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution (the only signer of all four of these documents)
            See *1 for his relationship to me

Joseph Spencer (1714-1789)
Joseph’s great-grandfather was Isaac Willey. Isaac is the great*7 grandfather of my daughter-in-law, making him the 2nd cousin, 6 times removed of my daughter-in-law.

Jonathan Sturges (1740-1819)
Jonathan’s mother was Ann Burr and his 2nd cousin, twice removed was Aaron Burr (father of the Aaron Burr who shot Alexander Hamilton). Aaron Burr was married to my 1st cousin, 7 times removed, Esther Edwards, who is a sister to Pierpont Edwards (above).

James Wadsworth (1730-1816)
James’ great*2 uncle, Joseph Noyes, married my great*7 aunt, Abigail Pierpont.

Jeremiah Wadsworth (1743-1804)
Jeremiah’s wife was Mehetable Russell, my 1st cousin, 7 times removed.

William Williams (1731-1811) – signed Declaration of Independence
            See *1 for his relationship to me

Oliver Wolcott – see above


Connecticut Representatives who were elected to the Continental Congress but who declined to serve

John Canfield (1740-1786)
John is my great*7 uncle.

Charles Church Chandler (1746-1787)
Charles was married to Maria Griswold who is the daughter of Ursula Wolcott and the niece of Oliver Wolcott (above). See *1 for relationship of Oliver Wolcott to me.

John Chester (1749-1809)
John’s great-grandfather was James Pierpont, my great*7 grandfather, making John my 2nd cousin, six times removed.

James Hillhouse (1754-1832)
Son of William Hillhouse (below).

William Hillhouse (1728-1816)
William’s wife was Sarah Griswold, sister-in-law to Ursula Wolcott who was a sister of Oliver Wolcott (above). See *1 for relationship of Oliver Wolcott to me.

William Pitkin, IV (1725-1789)
Son of William Pitkin (above) who participated in the Albany Congress, and thus a 2nd cousin once removed of Oliver Wolcott. See *1 for relationship of Oliver Wolcott to me.

Jedediah Strong (1738-1802)
Jedediah is the 4th cousin, 4 times removed, of my uncle Robert Hill.

John Treadwell (1745-1823)
John’s mother was Mary Ann Porter and his 4th cousin was Esther Porter. Esther is also my 1st cousin, 7 times removed.

Joseph Trumbull (1737-1778)
Joseph is the son of a former governor of Connecticut, John Trumbull. See *1 for the relationship between the Trumbull family, William Williams, and myself.




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