American Historical Ephemera & Photography Online

Autograph document unsigned by William Williams, and signed ("Jonth. Trumbull") by Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. Lebanon, Connecticut. 1 July 1768. 2pp, approx. 7 1/2 x 12 1/4 in.

A request for tax abatements listing qualified individuals living in Lebanon, CT. Approx. 35 lines in the hand of Williams with his notations, such as  "These are all very poor, quite unable to pay their Rates & we doubt not any of them may safely take the oath of poor Prisoners," "Dear & left no estate," and "all gone out of the Government, years since, left no Estate...." Trumbull completes the list with approx. 19 lines in his hand before signing the document as Deputy Governor. An "X" of the Justice of the Peace crosses through Trumbull's signature. 

American politician Jonathan Trumbull would serve as the Revolutionary War Governor of Connecticut and was a close friend and advisor to General George Washington. William Williams was an American Founding Father, merchant, a delegate for Connecticut to the Continental Congress in 1776, and a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence. At age 25, he was elected Town Clerk (1752-1796) of Lebanon, the beginning of a long political career holding local, provincial, and State offices. He was a Lebanon selectman (1760-1785), and was soon thereafter chosen a member of the Connecticut Assembly, and for forty-five years he held a seat there.