of Connecticut with Rhode Island, relative to the Narraganset country, to resign the claim to those lands, Roger Wolcott was a member of the committee on the part of Connecticut, which in conjunction with the Rhode Island deputies, finally ascertained and properly distinguished the boundary line between the respective colonies, in 1728.

He was successively a member of the assembly and of the council, a judge of the county court, deputy governor, chief judge of the superior court, and from 1751 to 1754, governor. He died May 17th, 1767, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He was free and affable, easy of access, of ready wit and great humour, a sincere christian, and a zealous advocate for the civil and religious privileges of his country, which he defended with a firm spirit. Although uneducated in early life, his literary attainments were respectable. He published several tracts, and a long poem, containing an account of the agency of John Winthrop in procuring from Charles II the charter of Connecticut, and describing, in the language of that day, the principal events of the Pequot war, as conducted by John Mason.

OLIVER WOLCOTT, the events of whose life are more particularly the subject of this memoir, was the youngest son of Roger Wolcott, and was born the

26th of November, 1726. He was graduated at Yale college in 1747. In the same year, he received a commission as captain in the army, from governor Clinton of New York, and immediately raised a company, at the head of which he marched to the defence of the northern frontiers, where he served until the regiment to which he was attached, was disbanded, in consequence of the peace of Aix-laChapelle. He then returned to Connecticut, and applied himself to the study of medicine, under the direction of his brother, Dr. Alexander Wolcott, then a distinguished practitioner. Before he was established in practice, the county of Litchfield was organized, and he was appointed the first sheriff of the county, in 1751. In the year 1774, he was promoted to the station of an assistant or counsellor, to which he was annually elected till the year 1786. While a member of the council, he was also chief judge of the court of common pleas for the county, and for many years, judge of the court of probate for the district of Litchfield. He served in the militia in every grade of office, from that of captain, to that of major-general. On all the questions preliminary to the revolutionary war, he was a firm advocate of the American cause. In July 1775, he was appointed by congress one of the commissioners of Indian affairs for the northern department.

This was a trust of great importance. Its object was to induce the Indian nations to remain neutral during the war. While he was engaged in this business, the controversies respecting boundaries between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and between Vermont and New York, menaced the tranquillity of the colonies, and exposed them to the seductions of British partizans. Mr. Wolcott's influence was exerted, with great effect, to compromise these disputes, and to unite the New England settlers in support of the American cause.

In January 1776, he attended congress at Philadelphia, and remained with that body till the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed. He then returned to Connecticut, and on the 15th of August, was appointed by governor Trumbull and the council of safety, to command fourteen regiments of the Connecticut militia, which were ordered for the defence of New York. This duty he performed till the force, amounting to more than five thousand men, was sub-divided into four brigades. He then returned home for a few weeks. In November, 1776, he resumed his seat in congress, and accompanied that body to Baltimore, during the eventful winter of 1777. The ensuing summer, he was constantly employed in superintending detachments of militia, and corresponding on military sub

jects. After detaching several thousand men to the assistance of general Putnam on the North river, he headed a corps of between three and four hundred volunteers, who joined the northern army under general Gates, where he acquired a command of between one and two thousand militia, who aided in reducing the British army under general Burgoyne. In February, 1778, he attended congress at York Town, and continued with that body till July. In the summer of 1779, after the invasion of Connecticut by the British, he was in the field at the head of a division of the militia, for the defence of the sea coast. In 1780 he remained in Connecticut. From 1781 to 1783, he occasionally attended congress. In 1784 and 1785, he was one of the commissioners of Indian affairs for the Northern department, and in concert with Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, prescribed the terms of peace to the Six Nations of Indians. From 1786, he was annually elected lieutenant governor, till 1796, when he was chosen governor; which office he held till his death, on the first of December, 1797, in the seventy-second year of his age.

This brief recital of the services of Oliver Wolcott proves that during an active and laborious life, devoted to the public service, he constantly enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens-a confidence alike

honourable to him, and to the people of the state. He married Laura Collins, of Guilford, in the year 1755, with whom he lived till her death in 1795. In the arduous duties in which he was engaged during the revolutionary war, he was well supported by his wife, who during his almost constant absence from home, educated their children and conducted the domestic concerns of the family, including the management of a small farm, with a degree of fortitude, perseverance, frugality and intelligence, equal to that which, in the best days of ancient Rome, distinguished their most illustrious matrons. Had it not been for her aid, his public services could not have been rendered, without involving a total sacrifice of the interests of his family; with her aid, his house was a seat of comfort and hospitality; and by means of her assistance, he retained during life a small estate, a part of which was a patrimonial inheritance.

The person of Governor Wolcott was tall and erect, indicating great personal strength and dignity. His countenance manifested a sedate and resolute mind. His manners were urbane, and through life he was distinguished for modesty. Though firm and tenacious of his own opinions, which he distinctly expressed on all suitable occasions, he ever manifested great deference for the opinions of others. The state of Connecticut was, upon principle, well united