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

Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...

, one of the 56 signers of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

, and a signer of the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...

as a representative of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. In 1764, the Baptists consulted with Ellery and Congregationalist Reverend

Ezra Stiles Ezra Stiles ( – May 12, 1795) was an American educator, academic, Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He is noted as the seventh president of Yale College (1778–1795) and one of the founders of Brown University. According ...

on writing a charter for the college that became

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. 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

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

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 college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

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 pl ...

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

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

. 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 The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial N ...

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 movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

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 The Clarke Street Meeting House (also known as the Second Congregational Church Newport County or Central Baptist Church) is an historic former meeting house and Reformed Christian church building at 13-17 Clarke Street in Newport, Rhode Islan ...

. Ellery died on February 15, 1820, at age 92 and was buried in

Common Burial Ground The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemetery, cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island, Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a Colonial America, colonia ...

in Newport. The Rhode Island Society of the

Sons of the Revolution Sons of the Revolution is a hereditary society which was founded in 1876 and educates the public about the American Revolution. The General Society Sons of the Revolution headquarters is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation located at Wi ...

and the William Ellery Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

make an annual commemoration at his grave on

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

Family and legacy

Ellery married Ann Remington of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, in 1750. She was the daughter of Judge

Jonathan Remington Jonathan Remington (1677–1745), was an Associate Justice of Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature appointed by Gov. Jonathan Belcher. Judge Remington married Lucy Remington Bradstreet (1680–1743), a granddaughter of Gov. Simon ...

. 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 Washington Allston (November 5, 1779 – July 9, 1843) was an American painter and poet, born in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina. Allston pioneered America's Romantic movement of landscape painting. He was well known during his lifetime for ...

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

, Richard Henry Dana, Sr., Edie Sedgwick,

Paulita Sedgwick Paulita Sedgwick (December 7, 1943 – December 18, 2009) was an artist, actress, and independent filmmaker best known for her performances on stage and roles in several films by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. Paulita Sedgwick was born on Dec ...

Kyra Sedgwick Kyra Minturn Sedgwick (; born August 19, 1965) is an American actress, producer and director. For her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama ''The Closer'', she won a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Awa ...

and

Andra Akers Andra Akers (September 16, 1943 – March 20, 2002) was an American actress and philanthropist. A character actress, she appeared in films, theater and television, usually in tough or brassy roles. Early life and education Akers was born in New ...

. Francis Dana 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 The ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of Pennsylvania The history of Pennsylvania stems back thousands of years when the first indigenous peoples occupied the area of wha ...

'' of the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

(1887). William Ellery is the namesake of the town of

Ellery, New York Ellery is a town in Chautauqua County, New York, United States, located northwest of Jamestown and with an extended lakefront on the east side of Chautauqua Lake. In the 2020 census, Ellery had a population of 4,105. History The area known as ...

, and Ellery Avenue in

Middletown, Rhode Island Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,075 at the 2020 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown". History Vario ...

, is named in his honor

Images

File:William Ellery tomb.jpg, Ellery's tomb at

Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a colonial-era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair ...

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 American Congregationalists American people of English descent Continental Congressmen from Rhode Island 18th-century American politicians 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 of colonial Rhode Island Burials at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery

Biography

Family and legacy

Images

See also

References

External links