1784 or 1785 dated Oliver Ellsworth, Benjamin Huntington, John Lawrence and Samuel Wyllys signed Revolutionary War Pay Order - Connecticut Autograph Document

Oliver Ellsworth (April 29, 1745 – November 26, 1807) was a prominent Founding Father of the United States, recognized for his roles as an attorney, jurist, politician, and diplomat. He played a significant part in the drafting of the United States Constitution, served as a United States senator from Connecticut, and held the position of the third chief justice of the United States. In the 1796 presidential election, he garnered 11 electoral votes.

Ellsworth's contributions were instrumental in securing Connecticut's ratification of the Constitution, and he was elected as one of the first two senators from the state, serving from 1789 to 1796. He was the principal author of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the framework for the federal judiciary and affirmed the Supreme Court's authority to invalidate state supreme court rulings that conflicted with the United States Constitution. As a key ally of Alexander Hamilton in the Senate, Ellsworth was affiliated with the Federalist Party and played a pivotal role in the passage of Hamilton's initiatives, including the Funding Act of 1790 and the Bank Bill of 1791. He also supported the United States Bill of Rights and the Jay Treaty.

Benjamin Huntington (1736-1800) Benjamin Huntington was an American lawyer, jurist and politician from Norwich, Connecticut. He served in the Revolutionary War with the rank of General. He later served Connecticut as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the First United States Congress. Benjamin was born on April 19, 1736 at Norwich, Connecticut, the only child of Daniel Huntington and his second wife Rachel Wolcott. He married Anne Huntington, of Windham, Connecticut, on May 5, 1765. She died on October 6, 1790 at Norwich. He graduated from Yale in 1761, and soon after, he entered upon the practice of law in his native town, and rose rapidly to the front rank of his profession. He seems to have been unusually devoted to his profession, being at once a severe student, and an active and successful advocate and business man. Though rather shunning than courting public life, he was not allowed to excuse himself from its claims; nor, when called to meet them, did he shrink either from public duties or dangers. In 1775 he was appointed, by the legislature of his native State, on the committee of safety, appointed to advise with the Governor of the State during the recess of the legislature. Only the ablest men and truest patriots of that trying day, would have been put upon that important committee. Again, in 1778, on the recommendation of George Washington, he was appointed by the legislature, one of the delegates to the convention to be held in New Haven, for the regulation of the army. From 1780 to 1784, and again in 1787 and 1788, he was a member of the Continental Congress; and when the new government went into operation, in 1789, he was chosen to represent Connecticut in the First Congress of the United States. From 1781 to 1790, and also from 1791 to 1793 he was also a member of the upper house of the Connecticut Legislature. On the incorporation of Norwich, Connecticut, in 1784, he was chosen, for an indefinite period, its first Mayor, in which office he served until his formal resignation, in 1796. He was also appointed in 1793, a judge of the superior court of Connecticut, holding this office until 1798. Thus, for more than twenty years, during the most eventful period of United States history, he was continually serving his constituents in offices always onerous, and often hazardous. How well he discharged these trusts, their own recurrence will unequivocally evince. A word on this point, however, is due both to his memory and to the truth of American revolutionary history.

Capt. John Lawrence (1719-1802), who served as treasurer of the Colony and subsequently the State of Connecticut from 1769 to 1789, is the signatory of this document. During the war, he held the position of commissioner of loans for the nascent nation. 

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.