Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/560

sequently represented Wethersfield again in the legislature, and was chosen a justice of the superior court. In 1745 he went to Cape Breton as chap- lain of the Connecticut troops, and the next year, when an expedition was planned to Canada and a regiment of 1,000 men was raised in Connecticut, he was appointed its colonel. The troops were not called out, and in 1749 he went to England to so- licit the royal government to pay the wages of the enlisted men that had held themselves in readiness to inarch for more than a year and a half. His mission was unsuccessful, but on his return he was employed in several public offices. Dr. Philip Doddridge, who was his intimate friend, said of him : " He possessed an ardent sense of religion, solid learning, and consummate prudence. I look upon him as one of the most valuable men on earth." — Elisha's son, Samuel Porter, clergyman, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1779; d. in Newbury- port, Mass., 23 Dec, 1826, was graduated at Yale in 1796, was ordained to the ministry, and in charge of the church at Mansfield, Conn., in 1807-'17. From 1821 until his death he was pas- tor at Newburyport. He published many sermons and addresses, a volume of which, with a memoir, appeared after his death (New Haven, 1827). — Another son of William, Solomon, clergyman, b. in Hatfield, Mass., 4 June, 1700; d. in Lebanon, Conn., 29 Feb., 1776, was graduated at Harvard in 1719, ordained pastor of the church in Lebanon in 1722, and held that charge until his death. Yale gave him the degree of D. D. in 1773. Dr. Williams pos- sessed wide influence among the clergy of New Eng- land. In the course of his ministry he engaged in two important controversies. One, in 1741, was with Rev. Andrew Croswell, on the " Nature of Justifying Faith," and the other with his relative, Jonathan Edwards, the elder, in 1751, on "The Qualifications Necessary to Lawful Communion in the Christian Sacraments." He had an extensive correspondence abroad and in this country. He published nineteen sermons (1729-'75). — Solomon's son, Eliphalet, clergyman, b. in Lebanon, 21 Feb., 1727 ; d. in East Haftford, Conn.. 29 June, 1803, was graduated at Yale in 1743, and held a pastor- ate in East Hartford from his ordination in 1748 until his death. Yale gave him the degree of D. D. in 1782. He was a member of its corporation from 1769 till 1801, and published several popular discourses. — Eliphalet's son, Eliphalet Scott, cler- gyman, b. in East Hartford, Conn., 7 Oct.. 1757; d. in Beverly, Mass., 3 Feb., 1845, was graduated at Yale in 1775, the same year became adjutant of a Connecticut regiment, and fought at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He then enlisted in the navy, and participated in the engagement between the " Hancock " and the " Levant," in which Capt. Edward Hardy was shot down by his side. He set- tled in Maine in 1790, taught and was a farmer, and in 1799 was ordained to the ministry of the Baptist church. He was pastor of the church in Beverly, Mass., in 1803-'12, and was then dismissed at his own request, becoming a minister at large, with his residence in Boston. He gave liberally for the erection of churches, and to missions. — Another son of Solomon, William, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Lebanon, Conn., 18 April. 1731 ; d. there. 2 Aug., 1811, was gradu- ated at Harvard in 1747. resided with his father and studied theology for about a year, and in 1755 attended his relative, Col. Ephraim Williams, on the expedition to Lake George. He became town- clerk of Lebanon in 1756, holding that office for forty-five years, was a representative in the as- sembly for more than fifty years, for many years speaker, and for more than ninety sessions was not absent more than five times, except during his ser- vice in congress in 1776-'7. He became colonel of the 12th regiment of militia in 1773, but resigned his commission in 1776 to ac- cept a seat in congress, sign- ing the Declara- tion of Inde- pendence on 4 July of that year. During a greater part of the war he was a member of the council of safe- ty, expended nearly all his property in the patriot cause, and, abandon- ing his business, which was that of a merchant,

went from house

to house soliciting private donations to supply the army, and making speeches to induce a larger en- listment. He became an assistant, or councillor, in 1780, held office for twenty-four years, was judge of the county court of Windham, and judge of pro- bate for Windham district for forty years. Al- though prudent and economical in many cases, he frequently devoted all the emoluments of his offi- ces to benevolent objects. Throughout the war his house was open to the soldiers in their marches to and from the army, and in 1781 he gave up his dwelling to the officers of a detachment that was stationed for the winter in Lebanon. He was a member of the Connecticut convention in 1787 that ratified the constitution of the United States, strongly advocating its adoption. He married Mary, second daughter of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull.

WILLIAMS, John, member of the Continental congress, b. in Hanover county, Va. ; d. in Gran- ville county, N. C, in October, 1799. He was brought up to the trade of a house-carpenter, but removed to North Carolina, where he was admitted to the bar. In 1770, while attending court at Hills- borough, he was seized by the Regulators and se- verely beaten. He was one of the first judges un- der the state constitution in 1777-'90, and sat in the Continental congress in 1777-'8.

WILLIAMS, John, author, b. in London, England, about 1765 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 12 Oct., 1818. He was educated at the Merchant Tailors' school and intended for the church, but adopted literature instead, and, after acting as a translator for London booksellers, went to Dublin, Ireland, where he was connected with various journals. His violent denunciations of the government caused his prosecution, and he was fined heavily and judicially declared in 1797 to be "a common libeller." Soon afterward he came to the United States, where he edited a Democratic newspaper. He died in great poverty. Mr. Williams wrote under the pen-name of " Anthony Pasquin." He was the author of several plays; "Poems" (London, 1789); " Legislative Biography " (1795) ; " The Hamiltoniad " (Boston, 1804) ; " Life of Alexander Hamilton " (1804); and " The Dramatic Censor" (1811).

WILLIAMS, John, P. E. bishop, b. in Deerfield, Mass., 30 Aug., 1817. He entered Harvard at the age of fourteen, and after remaining there two years joined the junior class at Washington