1785 dated Pay Order Signed by Jesse Root, Geo. Pitkin and Sam Wyllys - Autograph - American Revolutionary War

Pay order signed by Geo. Pitkin and Sam Wyllys on front and Jesse Root on back.

Jesse Root (December 28, 1736 – March 29, 1822) was a prominent American minister and attorney hailing from Coventry, Connecticut. Throughout the American Revolution, he was an active member of the Connecticut Council of Safety and participated in the Connecticut militia. Initially appointed as a lieutenant colonel in Peekskill in 1777, he advanced to the position of Adjutant-General of the Connecticut Line. Root represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1782 and held the position of chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1796 to 1807, in addition to serving as a judge in state courts. He was also a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives and took part in the Connecticut Constitutional Convention. Furthermore, he was affiliated with the First Company, Governor's Foot Guard, where he served as commandant from May 1798 to October 1802. His lineage includes his grandson, Austin Cornelius Dunham. 

Samuel Wyllys (January 4, 1739 – June 9, 1823) was an American military officer, politician, and member of the Wyllys–Haynes family. Born on January 4, 1739, and baptized on January 7, 1739, Wyllys graduated from Yale College in 1758. He sailed to England in 1764 and stayed there for six years.

In October 1771, Wyllys led the petition to establish the Governor’s Guard, becoming its first captain. In 1775, he was appointed lieutenant colonel in Colonel Joseph Spencer’s 2nd Connecticut Regiment and later promoted to Colonel. He commanded the regiment until January 1, 1776, when it was reorganized as the 22nd Continental Regiment. Wyllys served in the Siege of Boston and marched with Washington to New York, participating in the Battle of Long Island. From 1777 to 1781, Wyllys commanded the 3rd Connecticut Regiment in the Connecticut Line under General Samuel Holden Parsons. His regiment served in the New York area.

Discharged from the Army on January 1, 1781, Wyllys served as a Major General of the Connecticut Militia from 1793 to 1796. Following the war, Wyllys became a representative in the Connecticut General Assembly and served as Hartford’s town clerk. He also succeeded his father as Connecticut’s Secretary of State from 1796 to 1809, becoming the third consecutive Wyllys to hold this position. Regrettably, he resigned due to a paralytic condition.

On February 3, 1777, Wyllys married his first cousin, Ruth Belden. Ruth passed away on September 11, 1807. Wyllys died on June 9, 1823, and was interred in Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground. His grave remains unmarked, as the family decided against monuments to avoid diminishing their memory if Connecticut couldn’t recall them without them.

George Pitkin (1709– 1806) was a clerk of the superior and supreme courts for many years, was commissioned captain in 1768, lieutenant-colonel in 1774, colonel in 1775, and commanded the 4th regiment of minute-men, with which he marched to Boston on hearing of the battles of Concord and Lexington.

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