William Samuel JOHNSON, Congress, CT (1727-1819)

JOHNSON William Samuel , a Delegate and a Senator from Connecticut; born in Stratford, Conn., on October 7, 1727; was tutored privately by his father; graduated from Yale College in 1744 and from Harvard College in 1747; studied law; admitted to the bar and practiced in Stratford; member, colonial house of representatives 1761, 1765, and of the upper house 1766, 1771-1775; served as a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress held in New York City in October 1765; was Connecticut agent extraordinary to the court of England to determine the State title to Indian lands 1767-1771; judge of Connecticut Supreme Court 1772-1774; member of the Continental Congress 1785-1787; delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and one of the signers of the Constitution; served as the first president of Columbia College of New York City 1787-1800; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, when he resigned; died in Stratford, Conn., on November 14, 1819; interment in the Episcopal Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Groce, G.C. William Samuel Johnson: A Maker of the Constitution. New York: Columbia University Press, 1937; McCaughey, Elizabeth. William Samuel Johnson, Loyalist and Founding Father. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present