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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