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Oliver Ellsworth 1776 Signs Pay Order for Militia Colonel
Oliver Ellsworth 1776 Signs Pay Order for Militia Colonel
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Description:

Oliver Ellsworth
Hartford, CT, January 26, 1776
Oliver Ellsworth 1776 Signs Pay Order for Militia Colonel
MDS
OLIVER ELLSWORTH, Manuscript Document Signed, Pay order for Col Street Hall, January 26, 1776, Hartford, Connecticut. Also signed by William Pitkin and Thomas Seymour III. 2 pp., 8.25" x 4.75". Expected folds; general toning; very good.

Constitution Architect and Supreme Court Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth Signs Pay Order for Militia Colonel Oliver Ellsworth, of the Connecticut Committee of the Pay-Table signed this order, instructing Connecticut Treasurer John Lawrence to pay Colonel Street Hall £3..11..5 for express horses, caring for the sick, and other expenses.

Hall (1721-1802) served as lieutenant colonel of the 7th Connecticut for the latter half of 1775 and as lieutenant colonel of the 19th Continental Infantry throughout 1776. He was the older brother of Declaration signer Lyman Hall of Georgia. In 1787, Street Hall represented the town of Wallingford in the Ratification Convention for the new U.S. Constitution.

Complete Transcript
Hartford 26th Jany 1776
Sir,
Pay to Colo Street Hall for Sundry Amts for Express Horses, Taken care of Sick &c the sum of three pounds Eleven Shillings & five pence in bills &c and charge to Colony Acct.
£3..11..5
Wm Pitkin }
O Ellsworth }
Comtee Ezl Williams }
To John Lawrence Esqr Treasurer &c
[Endorsement:] Hartford 26 January 1776
Recd of Treasurer Lawrence three pounds Eleven Shils and five pence Being the Contents Street Hall

Historical
Background The Pay-Table handled the military finances for the colony of Connecticut during the American Revolution. Also known as the Committee of Four, its members at different times included Oliver Ellsworth, Jedidiah Huntington, William Moseley, Hezekiah Rogers, Jesse Root, Thomas Seymour III, William Pitkin, Fenn Wadsworth, Eleazer Wales, Ezekiel Williams, John Chenward, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and Samuel Wyllys.

Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807) was born in Windsor, Connecticut, and entered Yale College in 1762. At the end of his second year, he transferred to the College of New Jersey (Princeton), from which he graduated in 1766. He studied the law for four years, gained admission to the bar in 1771, and married Abigail Wolcott in 1772. In 1777, he became state's attorney for Hartford County, served on the Pay-Table Committee, and helped manage Connecticut's war expenditures during the Revolutionary War. In 1777, he was also named a delegate to the Continental Congress from Connecticut, a position he held until the end of the war. He served on the Supreme Court of Errors in Connecticut from 1785 and later on the Connecticut Superior Court. In 1787, voters selected Ellsworth as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he helped draft the Constitution and created with Roger Sherman the Connecticut Compromise between large and small states. He left the convention before signing the final document but worked for its ratification. He served as one of the first two U.S. Senators from Connecticut from March 1789 to March 1796, when President George Washington nominated Ellsworth as the third Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, a position he held from 1796 to 1800. After traveling to France as a special envoy to end the Quasi-War, he resigned from the Court in December 1800 because of illness.

William Pitkin (1725-1789) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son and namesake of a colonial governor of Connecticut, who held that office from 1766 until his death in 1769. The younger Pitkin married Abigail Church (1728-1807). He was an officer in the French & Indian War and a member of the Council of Safety during the Revolutionary War. He also served as assistant to and clerk of the Connecticut General Assembly and as judge of the Hartford Superior Court.

Ezekiel Williams (1729-1818) was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, and moved in 1752 to Wethersfield, where he became a successful merchant. In 1760, he married Prudence Stoddard. He served as sheriff of Hartford County from 1767 to 1789 and as a member of the Committee of the Pay Table from 1775. He also served as a member of a committee in charge of prisoners of war in the state and became commissary of prisoners in 1777. His younger brother was Declaration of Independence signer William Williams (1731-1811).

John Lawrence (1719-1802) served as treasurer of the colony and then the state of Connecticut for twenty years from 1769 to 1789. During the Revolutionary War, he was also commissioner of loans for the United States.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.25" x 4.75"
  • Medium: MDS

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