Oliver Wolcott

A portrait of Benjamin Franklin sitting in a red-cushioned chair, dressed in 18th-century attire, with one hand resting on a desk and the other on his lap, in a room with a window showing a landscape outside.

BORN - November 20, 1726, in East Windsor, CT. Parents (English ancestry) – Roger Wolcott (b1679-d1767) and Sarah Drake Wolcott (b1686-d1747). Fifteen Children (eight surviving to adulthood) – Roger Wolcott, Jr. (b1704-d1756), Elizabeth Wolcott Newberry (b1706-d1776), Alexander Wolcott #1 (b1708-d1711, age 3), Samuel Wolcott (b1709-d1717, age 8), Alexander Wolcott #2 (b1712-d1795), Sarah Wolcott #1 (b1712-d___), Sarah Wolcott #2 (b1715-d1735), Hepsibah Wolcott Strong (b1717-___), Josiah Wolcott (b1719-d1802), Erastus Wolcott #1 (b1721-d1722, age one), Epaphras Wolcott (b1721-d1733, age 12), Erastus Wolcott #2 (b1722-d1793), Ursula Wolcott Griswold (b1724-d1788), Oliver Wolcott, Sr. (b1726-d1797), Mariyanna Wolcott Williams (b1729-___).

DIED - December 1, 1797(1797-12-01) (aged 71), in Farmington, CT. Religion – Congregationalist (Puritan). Buried – East Cemetery, Litchfield, CT.

APPEARANCE - The picture above is the portrait of Oliver Wolcott (age ___) painted by James Reid Lambdin in 1873, based on the image in the earlier painting by John Trumbull titled “Declaration of Independence”.

FAMILY – Married - Lorraine (Laura) Collins (b1732-d1794) in 1755. Five Children (four surviving to adulthood) - Oliver Wolcott (b1757-b1757, as infant), Oliver Wolcott, Jr. (b1760-d1833), Laura Wolcott Moseley, (b1761-d1814), Mary Ann Wolcott Goodrich (b1765-d1805), Frederick Wolcott (b1767-d1837).

OCCUPATION – SOLDIER, MERCHANT, SHERIFF, LEGISLATOR. Graduated from Yale College (now Yale University) in 1747. Served as a Captain of the Connecticut Militia during the French and Indian War. Member of the Continental Congress representing Connecticut on and off from 1775 to 1776 and 1778 to 1784. Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1786 to 1796. Governor from 1996 to his death in 1997.

AT SIGNING – Age 49 at signing. Signed sometime after August 2, when he arrived back in Philadelphia after recovering from a serious illness.

AFTER SIGNING – Continued to service in Congress in Philadelphia, on and off, until 1784. Served as a General in the army during the war. Fought in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. Carried parts of at statue of King George III which was pulled down in New York City back to Litchfield where 4,000 bullets were made for the American Army from the metal.

HISTORIC SITES

Litchfield Home – Oliver Wolcott House, Litchfield, CT 06759 (1753). Located at 89 South Street, Litchfield, CT 06759. Home of Oliver Wolcott Sr., his father and his son. Privately owned.

Gravesite – East Cemetery, Litchfield, CT 06759. Located at East Street, Litchfield, CT 06759
Phone 860-567-0464.

Library – Oliver Wolcott Library, Litchfield, CT (1799). Located at 160 South Street, Litchfield, CT 06750. The house was purchased by Oliver Wolcott Jr. in 1814.

Tavern – Sheldon’s Tavern, Litchfield, CT (1760). Located on North Street, Litchfield, CT.

White two-story house with a red front door, symmetrical windows, and a small front porch surrounded by leafless bushes and trees.

Oliver Wolcott House, Litchfield, CT (1753).

Located at 89 South Street, Litchfield, CT 06759. Privately owned.

The house was the home of the Wolcott family which furnished three generations of Connecticut governors - Roger Wolcott, his son Oliver Wolcott Sr., his grandson Oliver Wolcott Jr. Roger Wolcott's son-in-law by his daughter Ursula, Matthew Griswold, also served as a Connecticut governor. Many distinguished guests visited the Wolcott House, including Lafayette and George Washington, who stayed there in 1780 during his first visit to Litchfield.