Connecticut Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Someone recently sent me a copy of the Declaration of Independence. As I was reading through it, at the very end was a list of all the men who signed it. These men were listed by the state that they represented. There are four of them who represented my home state, Connecticut.

Having recently done a blog on the governors of the Colony and then State of Connecticut and how so many of them are related to me, I wondered how many of these four men were related to me. Here is what I found out.

Samuel Huntington (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Huntington_(statesman))

Samuel (1731-1796) was also the 18^th governor of Connecticut [I missed him in the list of governors] and was succeeded by Oliver Wolcott (below). In addition to signing the Declaration of Independence, he signed the Articles of Confederation, was the President of the Continental Congress (1779-1781), President of the United States in Congress assembled in 1781, and the chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court (1784-1785). Samuel was married to Martha Devotion, who is my 3^rd cousin, 7 times removed, as her great-grandfather, Samuel Lathrop was the brother of my great*8 grandfather, John Lathrop.

Roger Sherman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Sherman)

Roger (1721-1793) was the first mayor of New Haven, CT, and is the only person to have signed all four great state papers of the US – the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. When Roger’s father passed away the family moved to New Milford, CT. It was there that his younger sister, Rebecca, married Joseph Hartwell, Jr. Rebecca and Joseph are the great*3 grandparents of my great-uncle, Joseph Hartwell, who married my grandmother’s sister (also in New Milford). So that makes Roger the great*4 uncle of my great-uncle.

William Williams (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Williams_(Continental_Congress))

William (1731-1811) was a storekeeper and a protestor several years before the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty. He was elected to the Continental Congress on July 11, 1776 but did not arrive at Congress until July 28, too late to vote for the Declaration of Independence, but in time to sign the formal copy. He was married to Mary Trumbull, daughter of Jonathan Trumbull [another governor of CT that I missed in my analysis]. Jonathan’s grandson, Jonathan, married Jane Lathrop who is related to the same John Lathrop above. Thus, William is the uncle of my 4^th cousin, 5 times removed.

Oliver Wolcott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wolcott)

Oliver (1726-1797) was the youngest of fourteen children of Roger Wolcott. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence as well as of the Articles of Confederation before it. During the Revolutionary War he served as a general. He served as the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1786 until 1796 and then as Governor of Connecticut from 1796 until his death in December of 1797. It was while serving as Lt. Governor where he presided over the Senate that he cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the separation of the town of Farmingbury from the towns of Southington [previously South Farmington] and Waterbury. In honor of this, the townspeople of Farmingbury renamed the town Wolcott. As I have documented previously, Oliver’s 1^st cousin, 7 times removed, and his namesake, Oliver Elias Wolcott, married my 2^nd cousin, three times removed, Lillie Waldron.

In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. In addition to Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Wolcott, there were two other men from Connecticut who were signatories of the Articles of Confederation.

Titus Hosner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Hosmer)

Titus (1736-1780) was a lawyer from Middletown, CT. He is related to me through my wife. Her great-uncle, Thomas DeMoulpied, is the 2^nd cousin, 4 times removed of Titus through Thomas’ mother, Ann [Hosmer] DeMoulpied.

Andrew Adams (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Adams_(congressman))

Andrew (1736-1797) was a lawyer from Litchfield, CT. He was also a Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. My 5^th cousin, 5 times removed, Henry F Talmadge, married Andrew’s granddaughter, Maria Adams.

Finally, in 1787 the Constitution was written and adopted. Roger Sherman was again one of the signatories from Connecticut, but this time joined by William Samuel Johnson.

William Samuel Johnson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Samuel_Johnson)

William (1727-1819) was an early statesman, served in the US Senate, and was the third president of King’s College (now known as Columbia University). I have [at least] two connections to William. My 3^rd cousin, 6 times removed, Jerusha Frisbie, married Ben Gaylord who is the brother of William’s aunt, Ruth [Gaylord] Johnson. And my 1^st cousin, 6 times removed, John Alcott, married Lois Gaylord, the great-niece of Ruth [Gaylord] Johnson.

And as a bonus while doing this investigation, I have found that William’s father, Samuel Johnson (1696-1772) was one of the principals involved in the early days of the Collegiate School of Connecticut before it settled permanently in New Haven and was renamed as Yale College. You can read that story here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson_(American_educator)).

While all the above is interesting, I guess that the moral of the story is that when one’s ancestors have been in Connecticut for ten generations you are pretty much connected to nearly everyone in the state’s history. At any rate, I get some pleasure in doing this type of exploration into my extended family tree.