William Ellery (December 22, 1727 – February 15, 1820) was a

Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American Revolution, American revolutionary leaders who United Colonies, united the Thirteen Colon ...

, one of the 56 signers of the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

, and a signer of the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

as a representative of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. In 1764, the Baptists consulted with Ellery and Congregationalist Reverend Ezra Stiles on writing a charter for the college that became

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. Ellery and Stiles attempted to give control of the college to the Congregationalists, but the Baptists withdrew the petition until it was rewritten to assure Baptist control. Neither Ellery nor Stiles accepted appointment to the reserved Congregationalist seats on the board of trustees.

Biography

Ellery was born in

on December 22, 1727, the second son of William Ellery Sr. and Elizabeth Almy, a descendant of Thomas Cornell. He received his early education from his father, a merchant and

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

graduate. He graduated from Harvard College in 1747, where he excelled in Greek and Latin. He then returned to Newport where he worked first as a merchant, next as a customs collector, and then as clerk of the

Rhode Island General Assembly The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Se ...

. He started practicing law in 1770 at age 43 and became active in the Rhode Island

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It p ...

. Statesman Samuel Ward died in 1776, and Ellery replaced him in the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

. He was a signer of the

and one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The size of his signature on the Declaration is second only to John Hancock's famous signature. Ellery also served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island from May 1780 to May 1781, and chief justice from June 1785 to May 1786. He had become an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

by 1785. He was the first customs collector of the port of Newport under the Constitution, serving there until his death, and he worshipped at the Second Congregational Church of Newport. Ellery died on February 15, 1820, at age 92 and was buried in Common Burial Ground in Newport. The Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the Revolution and the William Ellery Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

make an annual commemoration at his grave on

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

Family and legacy

Ellery married Ann Remington of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, in 1750. She was the daughter of Judge Jonathan Remington. She died in 1764 in Cambridge and was buried there, and he married Abigail Cary in 1767. He had 19 children, and his descendants include Ellery Channing, Washington Allston,

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarianism, Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theolo ...

, Richard Henry Dana Sr., Edie Sedgwick, Paulita Sedgwick, Kyra Sedgwick and Andra Akers.

Francis Dana Francis Dana (June 13, 1743 – April 25, 1811) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, jurist, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777–1778 and 1784. A signer of the Articles of Confederat ...

married his daughter Elizabeth. His great-great-grandnephew, Major Elbert Ellery Anderson (1833–1903), took his middle name from him. Ellery left a humorous record of his travels (on a mount he refers to as "my Jenny") from Massachusetts to Philadelphia in 1778 and 1779 that was published in serial form in the '' Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' of the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

(1887). William Ellery is the namesake of the town of Ellery, New York, and Ellery Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island, is named in his honor

Images

File:William Ellery tomb.jpg, Ellery's tomb at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery in Newport File:William Ellery grave at Common Burying ground Newport RI.jpg, William Ellery's grave inscription File:William Ellery house site in Newport Rhode Island.jpg, Site of Ellery's house in Newport on Thames Street near his burial site File:Ellery.jpg, William Ellery by Ole Erekson, engraver File:William Ellery.jpg, William Ellery File:Lucy Ellery Channing by Washington Allston.jpg, William Ellery daughter Lucy lleryChanning File:William Ellery Channing by Allston.jpg, William Ellery grandson

References

External links

Brown University Charter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellery, William Founding Fathers of the United States American Congregationalists American people of English descent Continental Congressmen from Rhode Island Signers of the Articles of Confederation Harvard College alumni Brown University people Cornell family University and college founders Politicians from Newport, Rhode Island Patriots in the American Revolution Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence 1727 births 1820 deaths Political leaders of the American Revolution People of Rhode Island in the American Revolution People from colonial Rhode Island Burials at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery

Biography

Family and legacy

Images

See also

References

External links