USA > Connecticut > The governors of Connecticut : biographies of the chief executives of the commonwealth that gave to the world the first written constitution known to history > Part 6
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The Governors of Connecticut
He began the manufacture of nitre later on, however, and extri- cated himself from the financial loss he had previously sustained.
During the Revolutionary period Treadwell engaged in the struggle for freedom. In 1754 and 1755 he was active as a mem- ber of the "Committee of Inspection and Correspondence," and in 1776 his townsmen elected him as their representative in the General Assembly. This office he held for the next seven years, when in 1783, he was elevated to the governor's council. He continued as a member of this body by successive elections until 1798. Treadwell was a member of the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786. In 1789 he was elected judge of probate of the Farmington district and also a judge of the Supreme Court of Errors. These offices he held until 1809, and he was afterward a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for several years. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1798 and continued in this office until 1809, when he succeeded Trumbull as governor. Governor Treadwell held the office almost two years.
In 1795 Governor Treadwell took an important part in negotiating the sale of lands in Ohio the proceeds of which consti- tuted the Connecticut School Fund. He was one of the delegates to the convention at Hartford that ratified the Constitution of the United States in 1788.
Thirty years later Governor Treadwell was also an important member of the convention which formed our present constitution. In 1800 Yale College conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
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The Governors of Connecticut .
Retiring from public life in 1811 Governor Treadwell spent a large portion of his time in writing on religious subjects. He was attentive to the scriptures from his youth up, and was assisted in the acquisition of religious knowledge by the study of the New Testament in the original Greek. The outcome was a series of essays on theological subjects, which are preserved, but were never pub- lished. Governor Treadwell was active in founding the "Connecti- cut Missionary Society," the first organization of its kind in North America. Governor Treadwell was one of the rich men of the section, his estate inventorying $74,000.
He died at his home in Farmington on August 18, 1823. His death was a serious loss to the people of Farmington. Rev. Dr. Noah Porter, pastor of the Congregational church in Farming- ton, preached the governor's funeral sermon. Among other things he said, "He was never suspected of partiality, duplicity, or a time- serving policy. He was known to act uprightly, and with a sincere desire to promote the public good. Probably no man was better acquainted with the internal policy of the state. And it is a sin- gular proof of his fidelity, if not his disinterestedness, that after this long and arduous course of public service he had only about the same amount of property that he had possessed when he began it. The emoluments of all his offices, together with the income of his farm, but little exceeded the expenses of his family."
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The Governors of Connecticut
Professor Olmstead writing of his ability as a scholar says: "It may be safely asserted that few, if any, of our chief magistrates have retained more fully the acquisition of their youth, or distin- guished the latter periods of life by more solid learning. What was his comparative ability or usefulness, as a theologian or as a magis- trate and civilian, it would be difficult to decide. This is much more evident, that few men have combined in themselves in so eminent a degree the most important qualifications for all three and that in him they reflected on each other a lustre, and together formed an excellence of character such as we are not often in this world to behold."
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The TWENTY-SECOND GOVERNOR of
CONNECTICUT was ROGER GRISWOLD
The son and grandson of governors, he studied law with his father at his birthplace in Lyme, graduated from Yale College, and began his brilliant career at the bar in Norwich-Later he returned to Lyme and was elected as a Federalist to represent his district in the House of Representa- tives where he ranked as a leader of his party in the administration of Washington and John Adams and was invited by the latter to be- come a member of his cabinet but declined
T
ROGER
GRISWOLD
T HE second Governor Griswold was descended from two governors of Connecticut, he being the son of Matthew Griswold, and grandson of Roger Wolcott. He inherited many of the distinguished traits of his able ancestors.
Roger Griswold was born in Lyme on May 21, 1762, and entered Yale College at the age of fourteen. He was graduated in 1780, and immediately began the study of law in his father's office.
In 1783 Griswold was admitted to the bar and commenced his brilliant career in the town of Norwich. Great success was his from the first, and few men in this state have ever acquired a greater reputation at the bar than Roger Griswold. He returned to his native town of Lyme in 1794 and was elected as a Federalist to represent his district in the national House of Representatives. He was re-elected five consecutive times, serving from 1795 to 1805. During the time he served as a congressman his ability and profound judgment placed him in the front ranks. The period covered a portion of Washington's administration, the whole of John Adam's, and a part of Jefferson's. He ranked with the first of his party, was distinguished "for his powerful talents in debate, and the independence and decision of his conduct."
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The Governors of Connecticut
In 1798 Griswold had a "violent personal encounter" with Matthew Lyon, the famous Vermont politician. Lyon appeared to be the aggressor, although an attempt to expel him from the House was unsuccessful. In 1801 President Adams offered Griswold the position of secretary of war in his cabinet, but he declined the office, having previously requested the president to withdraw the nomination.
Returning to Connecticut, Griswold was in 1807 chosen a judge of the Supreme Court, and remained on the bench two years, when the Legislature elected him lieutenant governor.
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The same year, 1809, he was also a presidential elector on the Pinckney and King ticket. Harvard College honored him in 1811 by conferring the degree of Doctor of Laws, and Yale followed in 1812 with the same degree.
Griswold served as lieutenant governor two years, when in 1811 he was elected governor of Connecticut. During his adminis- tration the president made a requisition on Connecticut for four companies of troops for garrison duty, but Governor Griswold refused to furnish them on the ground, that they were not needed to "repel invasion." Governor Griswold had been in office nearly a year and a half when he died on Sunday, October 25, 1812. Taken away in the prime of life, his death was generally lamented. The Honorable David Daggett delivered an eloquent eulogy upon his character before both houses of the legislature at New Haven.
Leading public men at the time agreed that Governor
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The Governors of Connecticut
Griswold had few equals in his day. The late Chief Justice Waite wrote of him, "In all positions he proved himself a born master of men." A writer in the New England Review said : "Few have been more universally esteemed and loved. He lived in a critical and eventful time in our existence; and pre-emi- nently acted well his part, deserving and receiving the highest hon- ors his native state could bestow upon him."
In personal appearance Governor Griswold was "a very hand- some man, with large flashing eyes, a commanding figure, and majestic mien -he seemed by outward presence born to rule."
Of his executive ability it has been said that "the secret of his power lay in the wonderful promptness of his mind, which penetrated every subject presented to it and saw it clearly in all its connections."
The following is on the family monument near Black Hall :
"He was respected in the university as an elegant classical scholar. Quick discernment, sound reasoning, legal science, manly eloquence, raised him to the first eminence at the bar. Distin- guished in the national council among the illustrious statesmen of his age -revered for his inflexible integrity and pre-eminent talents, his political course was highly honorable . . . . His fame and honor were the first rewards of noble action, and of a life devoted to his country. His memory is embalmed in the hearts of surviving relatives and of a grateful people. When this monument shall have decayed his name will be enrolled with honor among the great, the wise, and the good."
I4I
The
TWENTY-THIRD GOVERNOR of
CONNECTICUT was JOHN COTTON SMITH
The last governor of the old régime and an embod- iment of many of the traits of the early statesmen of the republic-He was born in Sharon, the son of a clergyman, and reared in the typical New England Household where the law of God is uppermost-His early education was conducted by his mother and after graduation from Yale Col- lege he became a brilliant lawyer and statesman
I. G. Smith
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JOHN
COTTON
S MITH
T HE last governor of the old regime was John Cotton Smith. It has been said that he exhibited many of the striking traits of the founders of this republic.
He was born in Sharon on February 12, 1765, and was the son of a clergyman of considerable power. His mother was the daughter of Rev. William Worthington of Saybrook. Governor Smith inherited the blood of those famous Massachusetts divines - John Cotton and Richard Mather.
The home where John Cotton was reared was a typical New England household where the law of God was uppermost.
His early education was conducted by his talented mother; then he prepared for Yale College under the direction of the Reverend Brinsmade of Washington. Entering college in 1779 at the age of fourteen, he was graduated with h nor in 1783. Immedi- ately after leaving Yale, Smith entered the office of John Canfield, an attorney at Sharon, and commenced the study of the law. In 1787
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The Governors of Connecticut
he was admitted to the bar of Litchfield County. When the young man commenced to practice he found himself in the midst of the best legal talent of the state, as the Litchfield County Bar was then famous for its brilliant array of able lawyers.
Success attended his efforts for advancement, and in 1793 he was elected a representative from his native town. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1796 to 1800. In October, 1799, Smith was chosen clerk, and during both sessions of the following year he occupied the speaker's chair.
During his term of service Smith was a strong supporter of the old Federal party, and through the stormy period from then to 1818 he steadfastly opposed the increasing demand for a new constitution.
Elected as a member of Congress in the fall of 1800 he repre- sented his district in the House of Representatives until 1806. While in Congress he was widely known as an accomplished scholar and a man of sound judgment. He was often called upon to pre- side when such statesmen as Pinckney, John Randolph, Otis, Lee, and Griswold were at the height of their fame. Smith resigned his seat in Congress in order "that he might the better administer to the comfort of an aged father." Returning to Sharon he took charge of the ancestral farm, at the same time engaging in literary pursuits, which his early training and hereditary tastes made very con- genial. His townsmen soon returned him to the Legislature where he was made speaker of the House, representing the town in
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The Governors of Connecticut
that body until 1809. In that year Smith was chosen judge of the Superior Court, and his opinions were, to quote Hollister, "among the best in our reports, and are distinguished for their clear- ness of thought and finish of diction."
In 1809 he was elected lieutenant governor of the state, hold- ing the office one year and seven months. During a large portion of the time that he held this office Governor Griswold was ill and unable to attend to the duties of state. The responsibilities of the chief executive at a critical juncture, fell upon the shoulders of Lieutenant Governor Smith.
Governor Griswold died in 1812, and the same year John Cotton Smith was elected to take his place. He was governor of the state for over four years, during a period that the commonwealth was convulsed by the strained relations existing between the two dom- inant political parties-the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Governor Smith was not in favor of changing the old form of gov- ernment for a new one, so when his party was defeated in 1817, and Wolcott, the Anti-Federalist champion, elected governor, he retired from the political arena. Settling once more on his farm of over a thousand acres, at the age of fifty-two years, Governor Smith passed the remaining twenty eight years of his life.
Many honors came to him in his retirement; Yale College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions elected him its presi-
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dent, in 1826; he was the first president of the Connecticut Bible Society and in 1836 the Royal College of Northern Antiquarians of Copenhagen elected him a member of that body. Governor Smith was also an active member of both the Massachusetts and Con- necticut Historical Societies.
"Dividing his time," says a writer, "between the scholastic studies that had coupled so large a portion of his youth, and the pur- suit of agriculture, he lived the life, then almost obsolete, of the Connecticut planters of the seventeenth century. His hospitable mansion was always thronged with the most refined and cultured guests, who, on whatever points they might differ, all agreed that their entertainer was an unrivalled gentleman in the highest and best sense of the word."
Governor Smith died in his home in Sharon on December 7, 1845, at the age of eighty years. 1
"His character can be likened to nothing that better illustrates it," says a historian, "than the warm smiling Sharon valley on a summer's morning, when the grass sparkles with dew and the bright lakes gleam in the sunshine."
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The
TWENTY-FOURTH GOVERNOR of
CONNECTICUT
was
OLIVER WOLCOTT
The third member of that famous family to occupy the office, and the first governor of this state under the present Constitution-He was born in Litchfield and at an early age joined the militia and while his father was absent in Congress the coura- geous son shouldered the responsibility of obtaining fuel and provisions for the family and keeping the roads open for transportation of army stores under his charge-Young Wolcott left his home with three dollars in his pocket and began a career which carried him into the president's cabinet
OLIVER
WOLCOTT
T HE first governor of this state under the present constitution was Oliver Wolcott, the third member of that famous family to occupy the office. The political power of the Wolcott's was exercised from the early days of the colony far into the century just closed. They were men of great mental power, excellent executive ability, and it could truthfully be said of them as it was of the famous Mather family in Massachusetts, that the prominent traits which were pronounced in the father were stronger in the son, and yet stronger in the grandson.
Oliver Wolcott was born in Litchfield on January 11, 1760, and was a son of Governor Oliver Wolcott and Loraine Collins of Guilford, a sister of General Augustus Collins, a distinguished officer in the Revolution. He entered Yale College in 1774, but two years later he volunteered in the militia and left his studies. Wolcott was in the force that went to Danbury to repel the inva- sion of General Tryon, and he took part in a skirmish at Wilton. He returned to college and after graduation began the study of law at the famous school conducted by Tapping Reeve and Judge Gould at Litchfield. During the summer of 1779 he was with his
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The Governors of Connecticut
father as aide-de-camp, who was then commanding on the western borders of the state. After accompanying his father to the coast he accepted a quartermaster's position. This was a period of great privation for his family at Litchfield. The elder Wolcott was absent in Congress, and on the son's shoulders fell the responsibility of obtaining fuel and provisions for the family. He was also obliged to keep open the roads for the necessary transportation of army stores under his charge. On July 29th General Parsons wrote to General Wolcott: "In arranging our line a number of ensigns are vacant. If your son is willing to accept one of these vacancies, I shall be happy to have it in my power to gratify the inclination of the son of so worthy a father. I am determined to have these offi- ces filled by young gentlemen of spirit and learning, to make the army respectable, or leave them vacant." He declined the offer as he was desirous of continuing his legal studies.
In 1781 Wolcott left his home in Litchfield with three dollars in his pocket, and went to Hartford, where he soon afterward accepted a clerkship in the office of the commissioner of the pay table. The salary connected with this position was fifty cents per day specie value. During the year he received the degree of Master of Arts from Yale College, his thesis being, "An Agricultura in Republica Americana sit magis colenda quam commercium." His great diligence in discharging the duties of the office led the General Assembly in 1782, entirely unsolicited, to appoint Wolcott
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The Governors of Connecticut
one of the commissioners of the pay table. As junior member of the commission he was obliged to make frequent visits to the Council of Safety, and receive directions. Through this agency he became intimately acquainted with not only the officials of the state, but the workings of the state government.
In May, 1784, Wolcott received the appointment as commis- sioner to adjust the claims for Connecticut against the United States. His colleagues in the work were two eminent men, Oliver Ellsworth and William Samuel Johnson. During the early part of 1788 the Board of Pay Table was abolished and in its place was created the office of Comptroller of Public Accounts. Wolcott was made the first comptroller and held the office until September, 1789, when the national treasury was established. Honors came to him rapidly in these days, for his great ability was being gen- erally recognized by the leading statesmen. In 1789 he was appointed auditor of the United States Treasury Department, and comptroller of the treasury in the spring of 1791. He had been previously offered the presidency of the United States bank.
Alexander Hamilton resigned as secretary of the treasury in 1795, and in February Wolcott succeeded him. He held the office through the remainder of Washington's administration and on the accession of President Adams in 1797 he tendered his resigna- tion. The president continued him in office until Wolcott finally resigned November 8, 1800. Previous to this Wolcott had
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The Governors of Connecticut
been subjected to slanderous accusations by his political opponents, and the Federalist officials were openly accused of having burned the treasury building in order to cover up their defalcations.
Wolcott called for an investigation, but a hostile committee appointed by Congress, failing to obtain the slightest evidence, con- tinued the malicious stories with the characteristic venom of politi- cal antagonists of that day.
President Adams forthwith appointed Wolcott, under the pro- visions of the new judiciary act, judge of the Second Circuit of the United States. This district embraced the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont, and the United States Senate took every precaution to vindicate Wolcott by immediately confirming the nomination.
In 1802 the judiciary act was repealed and Wolcott then removed to New York City, where he became a merchant. He was very successful, gathered a fortune in a short time, and was first president of the bank of North America.
Soon after the close of the second war with Great Britain, Wolcott retired to his former home in Litchfield, where he, in com- pany with a brother, founded large woolen factories near Torring- ton. The place where the factories were located was named Wolcottville and for a long time was the principal village of that town. Torrington owes its growth to a great degree to the success of these establishments.
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The Governors of Connecticut
Friends urged Wolcott in 1816 to accept the nomination for governor. The Anti-Federalist, or Democratic, convention con- vened at New Haven in January, 1816, and Oliver Wolcott was placed in nomination for governor, with Jared Ingersoll for lieuten- ant governor. Opposition newspapers now brought into the cam- paign all the rancor which was common in the early part of the last century. He was freely accused of arson to cover his peculations in the treasury department, and everything possible was done to assail his private character.
Wolcott was defeated and Ingersoll elected. This result had been anticipated by his friends as "an unfortunate culmination of circumstances." The same ticket was nominated the following year and both Wolcott and Ingersoll were elected by a two-thirds majority of the Assembly.
In 1817 Wolcott took his seat as governor of Connecticut, and became at once engaged in considering the various issues so long fought over by his constituents. His administration was destined to be one of reform, and members of the General Assembly of that year were elected on that basis. The most important question to demand the attention of the Assembly was that of calling a state convention to frame a new constitution. This had been the bone of contention between the two parties for the past twenty years.
The convention was called and Governor Wolcott was chosen president. He presided over the sessions of the convention with
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The Governors of Connecticut
dignity and ability, and the original draft of the constitution is said to have been his work. The new constitution was framed and adopted; so that this was probably the most important act of his- administration. For ten years Governor Wolcott was continued in office with no decided opposition. His career as governor sustained his great reputation for executive ability which he had gained as a member of Washington's cabinet. After retiring from the office of governor, Wolcott returned to New York City, where he lived with his children for the remainder of his life.
Governor Wolcott devoted his fortune to fostering agricultural pursuits, and developing the great factories he had founded. He also paid considerable attention to letters, and he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from the corporations of Brown University, the College of New Jersey, and Yale College.
He died at his home in New York, June 1, 1833, and the death of no public man of the period was mourned more than Governor Wolcott. From the fact that he was the last survivor of Washington's cabinet, and a conspicuous figure that represented the principles of the founders of the republic, Wolcott's death was looked upon as a national loss. "His character," said one who knew Governor Wolcott intimately, "was strongly marked, strong, inflex- ible, and devoted to all that duty, honor and patriotism enjoined ; he was in private life of the utmost gentleness, kindness and simplicity. With strong original powers, early developed by the stirring events
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The Governors of Connecticut
of the Revolutionary days, in which he was born, he had acquired a habit of self-reliance which better fitted him for the sort of politi- cal co-operation which results from expediency rather than right." Of his personal appearance the same writer says: "In personal appearance Oliver Wolcott was of the ordinary size, but as he advanced in life he inclined towards corpulency. His head was large and countenance strongly delineated and expressive. He pos- sessed much dignity of manner; his disposition was sedate but cheerful, and with some causticity of humor."
In his old age Governor Wolcott was honored as being the last of a coterie of public men who composed Washington's official family. It has been said that the departure of few public men ever occasioned so great public sorrow as the death of Governor Wolcott. "All felt alike," says a writer, "the irreparable loss, and they could not but feel that an important link, in the chain that united the present generation with the one of the Father of his Country, was broken."
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The
TWENTY-FIFTH GOVERNOR of
CONNECTICUT
was
GIDEON TOMLINSON
The grandson of an officer who took part in the capture of Ticonderoga, and born in the town of Stratford-After graduation from Yale College he became a tutor and later studied law, entering politics and becoming a prominent agitator in the Constitutional controversy, preceding and during the State Convention of 1818, and finally becom- ing a member of the United States Senate and one of the first railroad presidents in this country
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