Williams, William

WILLIAMS, WILLIAM. (1731–1811). Signer. Connecticut. William Williams was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, on 18 March 1731. He graduated from Harvard College in 1751; studied theology under his father, a Congregational minister; and in 1755 served on the staff of his cousin, Ephraim Williams, during William Johnson's expedition against Crown Point during the French and Indian War. Returning home, he went into business and launched a long and distinguished career in public service. He was a selectman of Lebanon (1760–1785), town clerk (1752–1796), representative in the assembly (1757–1776 and 1781–1784), member of the governor's council (1776–1780 and 1784–1803), probate judge (1775–1809), and judge of the Windham county court (1776–1806). His political career was undoubtedly helped by his marriage on 14 February 1771 to Mary, the daughter of Governor Jonathan Trumbull and sister of the younger Jonathan Trumbull.

Religious faith was at the center of Williams's character and was the source of his unwavering devotion to the cause of American rights. Less cosmopolitan than most senior Connecticut leaders, he made his most important contributions at the state level. He helped his father-in-law with numerous state papers and also contributed essays to local newspapers supporting the American cause. As speaker of the assembly after October 1774, he played a major role in preparing Connecticut for war and in establishing the Council of Safety, the executive body that advised the governor between sessions of the assembly. In May 1775 he financed on his personal credit the dispatch of Connecticut troops to Ticonderoga. Commissioned colonel of the Twelfth Militia Regiment the same month, he resigned a year later to sit in the Continental Congress. He served two terms (July-November 1776 and June-December 1777). As a delegate, on 2 August he signed the Declaration of Independence, a document he had played no role in drafting or adopting since he had not arrived in Philadelphia until 28 July. Williams helped draft the Articles of Confederation, and he served on the Board of War from October to December 1777. In 1779 he offered a quantity of his own hard cash in exchange for virtually worthless Continental paper money so that supplies could be purchased for the army, one of many instances in which he sacrificed his own resources for the American cause and one of the reasons why he was left in penury at war's end He demonstrated his personal courage by riding twenty-three miles in three hours to volunteer his services in repelling Benedict Arnold's New London raid on 6 September 1781.

Politically active after the war, Williams supported local interests rather than a strong central government, opposed half-pay and commutation for Continental officers, and distrusted the Society of the Cincinnati. But at the Connecticut ratifying convention in January 1788, he voted to support the federal Constitution, thus violating the instructions he had received from his home town. He remained on the Council until 1803, and served as a judge until 1810. He died at Lebanon on 2 August 1811.

SEE ALSO New London Raid, Connecticut.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stark, Bruce P. Connecticut Signer: William Williams. Chester, Conn.: Pequot Press for the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, 1975.

                              revised by Harold E. Selesky