Ellery, William, 1727-1820

Addressee is Commissioner at the Rev. Mr. Marshall's.

Representative to U.S. Continental Congress and signer of Declaration of Independence, of Newport, R.I.

William Ellery was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on December 22, 1727. After graduating from Harvard College in 1747, Ellery returned to Newport and established himself as a merchant. As his financial success increased, Ellery became involved in politics, soon establishing himself as a local leader of the Sons of Liberty. By 1769, he had taken up the legal profession, and in March 1776 the Rhode Island Assembly chose Ellery to succeed the deceased Samuel Ward as a member of the Continental Congress. Ellery signed the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 and later served on the Congressional Board of Admiralty. Following the American Revolution, Ellery returned to Newport as a merchant and lawyer, and was appointed a customs collector by George Washington in 1790. Ellery died on February 5, 1820. He had two wives and fathered sixteen children.

William Ellery was the First Customs Collector for the port in Newport, Rhode Island.

Rhode Island jurist, member of Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of Independence signer from Rhode Island.

This volume was prepared by William Ellery, perhaps William Ellery (1759- ), son of Elias and Elizabeth Ellery, who was a sea captain living in Charlestown, Mass.

Jurist and delegate to the U.S. Continental Congress from Rhode Island.

Elected to Continental Congress, 1776-1785; Judge, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, circa 1778-?; First Collector, port of Newport, ?-1820.

Wlliam Ellery (1727-1820), the second son of William Ellery Sr. and Elizabeth Almy, was born on December 22, 1727, in Newport, Rhode Island. Ellery graduated from Harvard College in 1747 and returned to Newport to work first as a merchant, later as a customs collector, and then as the clerk of the court of common pleas of Newport County in 1768-1769. At the age of forty three, Ellery studied law and passed the bar and immediately began to practice in Newport in 1770. In May 1776, Ellery was selected as the Rhode Island delegate for the Continental Congress, filling the vacancy left by the death of Samuel Ward (1725-1776). Ellery remained in this position until 1785, during which time he was among one of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Ellery became a justice of the Rhode Island State Supreme Court in 1785 and was later appointed by the Continental Congress as the commissioner of the Continental Loan Office in 1786. William Ellery served as the first collector of the port of Newport under the new United States Constitution from 1790 until his death in 1820. William Ellery died on February 18, 1820, and is buried in the Common Burial Ground in Newport.