SAM HUNTINGTON & WILLIAM WILLIAMS OF CONNECTICUT!

I mention these two signers of the Declaration of Independence simply because they were born about the same time; 1731 and 1732.  Sam was born at Windham to hard working farmers and had little formal schooling.  Sam was able to school himself with borrowed books on what ever subject he could find.  He read himself into law and became a judge at age 30 years.  He was highly respected, honest and vigorous in defense of liberty and local control.  He was appointed a member of the General Congress in 1775 and had the privilege of signing the Declaration of Independence.  He was appointed Lt. Governor in 1785 and then became Governor the next year.
William Williams family came from Wales and his father and grandfather were both ministers and at age sixteen he entered Harvard College and entered into the study of Religion.  But the French and Indian war drew him away and there he developed a considerable dislike for the British ways.  He left the study of religion and entered the mercantile business, became town clerk and then became a member of the Connecticut Assembly and then on to the General Congress where he had the honor of adding his name to the Declaration of Independence.
When in 1781 he heard that the traitor Arnold had attacked the town of New London and burned it to the ground he was Colonel of militia but was too late to help in the three hours it took to make the trip.  During the war when the continental dollars issued by Congress were being refused in many areas William bought two thousand dollars worth of the "continentals" to help buy goods for the regulars, losing most of it in the process....Medicineman!